Just as everyone was whispering to each other, unsure of how to react to Sanji's departure, the man himself suddenly stopped at the entrance of the Baratie. He placed his suitcase down gently by the door, then turned to face the interior of the restaurant.
Without warning, Sanji dropped to his knees.
He kowtowed, slamming his forehead against the wooden floor with a loud *thud*. His voice rang through the restaurant, firm yet trembling with emotion.
"Old man! Thank you for raising me… for taking care of me all this time!" he shouted, his forehead still pressed to the ground. "I truly am grateful for everything you've done."
Tears began to fall from his tightly shut eyes, soaking the floor beneath him.
"I'm sorry… for all the trouble I caused," Sanji continued, his voice cracking. "For the arguments. The fights. For being such a pain in the ass. I apologize… from the bottom of my heart."
The restaurant fell completely silent. Even the clatter of dishes stopped. The cooks who had only minutes ago mocked him now stood frozen, guilt and sadness creeping into their eyes.
"Farewell, old man!" Sanji called out one last time. "I'll see you again… someday."
Behind the kitchen doors, Zeff stood quietly, arms crossed, listening with a deep frown etched on his face. He didn't say a word, but his eyes were moist.
Back at the entrance, Patty and Carne's faces crumpled.
"S-Sanji… uwaaah!" Patty sobbed, rubbing his eyes with the back of his arm. "Why do you have to say it like that?!"
"We're the ones who should apologize, you idiot!" cried Carne. He then admitted, "Actually, the foods that you cooked before doesn't taste like poison."
"That's right. We just acted as if we don't like it." Patty also nodded in agreement. "To tell you the truth, it was actually very delicious."
"We are very sorry."
The few cook admitted and apologised, but Sanji seems to not feel bothered about it. He slowly stood up, brushing off his pants. He took a moment, then turned to look at the others. A small, mischievous smirk tugged at the corner of his lips.
"You know," he said, his tone suddenly shifting, "I've actually been thinking of leaving Baratie for a while now."
The cooks blinked in surprise. "Huh?"
"Wanna know why?" Sanji continued, raising an eyebrow.
"Why…?"
He pointed casually toward the group of teary-eyed cooks and grinned. "Because you're all ugly. And you stink."
The kitchen staff exploded.
"BASTARD!!" Patty shouted, fists shaking. "SAY THAT AGAIN, I DARE YOU!"
"GET BACK HERE SO I CAN KICK YOUR ASS ONE LAST TIME!" Carne yelled, trying to vault over the counter.
Sanji only laughed as he grabbed his suitcase and walked out the door.
"Goodbye, all of you stinking, ugly bastards!" he called out with a wave.
Before anyone could chase after him, Sanji leapt into a small boat that had been tied to the dock. He tossed his luggage aboard, picked up the oars, and began rowing steadily toward the horizon.
The crew of the Baratie stood silently, watching him disappear into the distance, heading in the same direction as the Silent Orca.
"…Safe travels, idiot," muttered Patty, wiping his nose.
"Don't die out there," said Carne, quieter now.
Though Sanji's departure had caused a wave of emotion to ripple through the restaurant, it wasn't long before the staff slowly returned to their work. Plates clinked, orders were shouted, and customers laughed.
And just like that… Baratie returned to its usual, chaotic rhythm.
As if Sanji's farewell was just one more fleeting memory in the sea.
...
On a remote island where a battered pirate ship was docked, a lone figure approached from the sea in a small rowing boat. The man was Gin, first mate of the Don Krieg Pirates, and he had just returned from the Baratie floating restaurant.
In the boat beside him were bundles of food, These were the foods that Sanji had prepared specifically for Gin's hundreds starving crews.
The moment he climbed aboard, Gin wasted no time.
"Everyone! I brought food!" he called out.
The weakened pirates stirred from their near-death slumber. Eyes that had once been dull with hunger now lit up with hope. Gin quickly began handing out portions of food, moving across the deck with urgency. As the crew devoured the meals like starving animals, Gin looked around and felt something was… off.
"…Where's the Captain?" he muttered, scanning the area.
He walked toward the captain's quarters, pushing the creaky door open. Empty. He checked the lower cabins. Still nothing. Even the storage rooms and engine hold turned up no sign of Don Krieg.
"Captain?" Gin called out again, his voice rising with unease.
Suddenly, from behind a set of stacked crates, a hoarse voice called out, barely audible, "Vice Leader… Gin…I know...what...happened..."
Gin turned sharply and hurried toward the sound. There, slumped against the wall and barely conscious, was one of their crewmates. His skin was pale, his lips cracked.
"What happened?" Gin knelt beside him.
The man didn't answer right away. His eyes were cloudy, and his lips parted with a whisper: "Food…"
Without hesitation, Gin reached into the food sack and pulled out a portion. He helped the man eat, lifting the spoon to his lips slowly, carefully.
After a few bites, the man's strength started to return. He ate faster, his eyes sharpening as the food revived him. A few minutes later, he let out a shaky breath and looked up at Gin.
"Vice Leader… Captain Krieg was taken."
Gin's expression darkened. "What do you mean 'taken'? By who?"
"I mean, he got kidnapped. I don't know who they were… but they weren't Marines."
Gin gritted his teeth. "Then who?"
"I… I only caught a glimpse of their ship. It looked like… like a whale," the pirate said, still breathing heavily.
"A whale?" Gin narrowed his eyes. "You mean their ship looked like a whale?"
The man nodded weakly. "Yeah… dark in color, rounded front… like it could be some kind of sea creature. I didn't see any flag."
Gin clenched his fists. "You see which direction they went?"
"I did." The man pointed shakily. "They came from that way… and left going that way."
Gin followed his finger. His brow furrowed as he made the connection.
"That direction… it leads to the Baratie restaurant."
Gin's thought unsettled him. He assumed that the whale-like vessel might belongs to one of the group that he saw in Baratie. Still, one question lingered in his mind—where were they heading?
Turning back to the exhausted pirate beside him, Gin asked, "Did you hear anything? Anything they said before they left?"
The man closed his eyes, straining to recall. "The one who took Captain Krieg... he seemed to be their leader. The others kept calling him 'Zino.'"
Gin's eyes narrowed. "Zino?"
The man gave a slight nod. "And those bastards didn't just take the captain. They ransacked the ship… took our weapons, and what little treasure we had left…"
"What!?" Gin's voice boomed, startling some of the nearby crew.
Only now did he remember how oddly empty the armory and supply rooms had seemed. The racks were bare, and even their emergency gold stash had vanished. At the time, he'd been too focused on distributing the food to notice.
He clenched his fists tightly. "Are they pirates or bandits? Who just steals from starving men?!"
He wanted to rage, to curse out loud, but he knew nothing about this so-called Zino or his crew. He took a deep breath, calming his anger, then turned back to his weakened comrades.
"You guys stay here. Eat, rest up. I'll go find the captain and get him back."
Without waiting for a reply, Gin returned to his small boat. He tossed in a few extra supplies, preparing to follow the whale-like ship and its mysterious captain. He was just about to set sail when he caught sight of another ship approaching the island.
Narrowing his eyes, Gin peered over the edge—and blinked in disbelief.
"…You?"
Standing at the helm of the small vessel was none other than the cook who had given him food back at Baratie.
Sanji raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Huh? You're here?"
The two men stared at each other across the water for a few seconds before their expressions softened. Gin recognized the same calm yet confident energy in the cook's face. Sanji, meanwhile, was curious about what Gin was doing here.
After the short silence, Gin broke it. "Hey… thanks again for the food."
Sanji smiled slightly. "Don't mention it."
"I'm Gin, by the way."
"Sanji."
Gin nodded. Then, his tone shifted. "Sanji, have you seen a ship shaped like a whale recently?"
Sanji's face didn't flinch, but a tiny spark of recognition flickered in his eyes. Still, he casually shrugged and replied, "A ship like a whale? No… can't say I have."
Sanji was a cautious man by nature, and even more so now that he was about to join the Orca crew. Although he had shared a brief moment of kindness with Gin back at Baratie, that act was born from principle, not trust. Feeding the hungry was something Sanji believed in—no matter who they were—but exchanging honest conversation with a notorious pirate? That was a completely different matter.
He kept his guard up as Gin's question hung in the air.
"Why are you asking about a whale-shaped ship?" Sanji asked, keeping his tone casual but watchful.
Gin sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "To be honest, a group of strangers showed up here before me… and they kidnapped my captain. According to my crewmates, their ship looked like a whale."
Sanji blinked, momentarily stunned. *Zino caught Don Krieg?* The thought flashed across his mind. But he quickly reined it in. *No, that could just be a coincidence. There might be other whale-shaped ships out there… right?*
Still, the possibility gnawed at him.
Trying not to let anything show on his face, he asked, "Did your crew recognize anyone on that ship?"
"The guy who took Captain Krieg was called Zino," Gin replied. "They said he's the captain of that whale ship."
Sanji felt a bead of sweat slide down the back of his neck. That name confirmed everything.
Zino. There was no mistaking it now.
But Sanji didn't flinch. He gave a small shrug and kept his expression unreadable. "Sorry, I don't know anything about them," he said smoothly. "Well, I've got business to take care of. I'll be on my way."
"Where are you headed?" Gin asked, watching him carefully.
Sanji pointed off to the sea. "That way. Got something to settle."
Without waiting for more questions, he gave a nod and turned his boat away, rowing off with steady strokes.
Gin stood in silence, watching the cook disappear into the distance. His eyes narrowed slightly.
"That direction…" he muttered. It was the same one his injured crewmate had pointed to earlier—the direction the whale ship had gone.
*Is it just a coincidence?*
A theory started forming in Gin's mind. *Maybe there's a Marine base that way. That group might be planning to hand Captain Krieg over to the authorities.* And Sanji… perhaps he just happened to be heading there for unrelated reasons.
Still, coincidence or not, he couldn't waste time. If the group had already reached a Marine base, it might be too late to rescue Don Krieg.
Gin gripped the oars tightly and jumped back into his small boat. The waves rocked beneath him, but his determination held steady.
"I'm coming, Captain… Just hold on a little longer."
Without another word, he set off, his boat slicing through the sea as he chased the faint hope of saving the man he still called his leader.