Inside the restaurant, both chefs and busboys had picked up weapons.
Their weapons looked somewhat pathetic; the best among them were merely clubs.
Luffy's gaze swept over the group of pirates, pausing briefly on Krieg and the man next to him, who looked somewhat disheveled.
His heart stirred slightly.
The aura these two emitted felt different.
It wasn't ordinary like Usopp or Johnny's; it carried a fierce, murderous, viciousness honed through battle.
This felt more like his instinctual sense of an enemy's strength during a fight, a hunter's perceptive instinct, except this instinct seemed to have been significantly enhanced.
The restaurant interior was already in shambles.
The chefs were facing a formidable enemy. Even though the opponent was just one man for now, his reputation alone had them incredibly tense.
The guests had long since fled in terror or were hiding in corners, trembling.
"I told you already, don't resist me! When I tell you to make food, just do it obediently!" Krieg was unbearably arrogant. "Take this hundred-person portion of food and move it to the ship."
Zeff's sudden appearance made Krieg pause.
"'Red-Leg' Zeff? Fancy meeting an old acquaintance in this godforsaken place." Krieg's expression shifted slightly.
Before he became the overlord of the East Blue, Zeff's reputation was nothing to scoff at.
"Enough talk. Hand over the logbook of the Grand Line! The one that records the weather, currents, and islands of the Grand Line! With it, I can return to the Grand Line..."
Return?
"This uncle has been to the Grand Line too?" Luffy became interested.
The East Blue was just the starting point. When Luffy was a child, he heard the pirate stories Shanks and his crew told, most of which happened in the Grand Line.
"You're a pirate too?" Krieg noticed Luffy.
"Of course. Did you just come back from the Grand Line?"
"Heh, the Grand Line is no place for scrawny monkeys like you or pirates with no sense of fear." Krieg's eyes reddened slightly, as if remembering something.
"If a failure from the Grand Line like you can go, why wouldn't someone passionately pursuing their dreams want to go?"
"Failure?"
Zeff's direct tearing open of that wound made Krieg's expression instantly collapse.
Krieg didn't stay any longer.
He needed to feed his crew, then come back to seize this ship and the logbook.
"You... you should all leave." Gin's expression was pained.
He didn't even dare to look up at Sanji.
There were pirates who lived by a code of honor!
This man clearly wasn't like his captain. He had received the grace of a meal, yet was now repaying kindness with enmity.
"Captain Krieg won't give up on plundering this ship to return to the Grand Line for revenge."
"What happened to you in the Grand Line?"
"Our fleet... was destroyed by a single man."
A single man?
Fifty ships, five thousand crew members... what did that even mean?
Luffy had some understanding of scale by now.
And according to Gin, it only took one slash to destroy Krieg's entire fleet.
"That hawk-eyed man!"
"Hawk-Eyes?!"
That name sent a thrill through Zoro.
News of that man again.
"Shishishi, Zoro, is that your target?" Luffy said.
"Of course. Don't you dare try to steal this one from me," Zoro said, a fanatical expression on his face.
Do these two have any idea who they're talking about?
Seeing their eager expressions, Gin felt both anxious and furious.
"Straw Hat kid, do you know who you're dealing with?!"
"So what? We're going to conquer the Grand Line."
If they shrank back at the sight of a strong opponent, they might as well surrender to the Marines with their hands on their heads right now.
Too scared to do this.
Too scared to do that.
What's the point of being a pirate then?
"I like the sound of that, Captain," Zoro said.
"Is this 'Hawk-Eyes' person some famous, powerful fighter?" Usopp asked.
His legs had been trembling since the moment he saw Krieg.
What would happen if he met Hawk-Eyes? He didn't even dare to think about it.
"Yeah, a very famous and powerful fighter."
Zoro withdrew his gaze and said, "The gap between power levels among the strong is vast. Don't be fooled just because a bunch of guys like Krieg call themselves 'overlords' here in the East Blue. But in the Grand Line, even the ordinary bounty hunters active there could give them a run for their money... let alone the truly renowned powerhouses."
Zeff nodded in agreement and added, "And that Hawk-Eyes is a being who stands at the pinnacle among countless powerhouses. He is the summit for swordsmen worldwide."
"He is known as the World's Greatest Swordsman!"
The World's Greatest Swordsman?
"That's my goal. The reason I set out to sea." Zoro's body was already trembling with excitement.
"Shishishi, then it's decided. Our target is the Grand Line."
Luffy, as the captain, gave the order.
"Before that, our obstacle is the Krieg Pirates."
"Then let's get involved too," Zoro said.
"Straw Hat kid, I told you, this has nothing to do with you. Take this guy and set sail for the Grand Line. Here's my logbook. It's yours." Zeff tossed a book to Luffy.
A fleet of five thousand, and Krieg, hailed as the overlord of the East Blue.
Even if most of it was destroyed by Hawk-Eyes, they could still run rampant in the East Blue.
"Shishishi, thanks for the logbook." Luffy took it and tossed it to Usopp. He hadn't seen Nami, so he'd let Usopp hold onto it for now.
In a fight between pirates, there was no such thing as retreat. They had long since disregarded life and death.
But this time...
"Hey, Zoro, I'll leave that Hawk-Eyes guy to you. As for this bunch, leave them all to me."
Luffy's words made Zoro pause for a moment before he responded, "Then I'll look forward to it a little, you idiot captain."
"Aren't you just sending him to his death?!" Sanji watched Luffy charge out and cursed loudly.
You just don't understand our captain yet.
...
"We're saved!"
"Food, food! I can't believe we survived even that!"
"We made it out of that graveyard for pirates alive!"
Krieg sat on his throne, laughing arrogantly. "That's right, men! Are you ready to challenge the Grand Line again?!"
Pitter-patter.
Scattered raindrops began to fall, and dark clouds gathered over the Baratie.
"Is it going to rain?"
Krieg stood up, ready to take over his new ship.
"Men, are you ready?!"
"READY!"
A voice suddenly rang out from the sky.
Everyone looked up.
Sanji and Zoro also ran out, staring dumbfounded at the figure in the sky, muttering to themselves, "Wh-what is that?"
"That's our captain."
Looking at this scene, even Zoro couldn't help but feel his blood surge.
"Remember this, cook," Zoro said. "On this ship, you can choose to ignore the captain's usual words, but during a fight, you do exactly what he says."
"This isn't some pirate game of make-believe."
"Gomu Gomu no... Giganto... RAIDEN AXE!"
The electric punishment wasn't necessarily just an attack method. If his hand could become a giant fist, then his foot could naturally become a giant axe.
Lightning crackled around it.
On this day, people remembered the fear of being dominated by a giant.