A large ship sailed steadily across the calm sea.
Noyer stood at the bow, holding a sea chart. He looked at the distant ocean and said excitedly, "We're here!"
Ace and the others rushed to the bow, their faces full of amazement as they gazed at the uniquely styled floating restaurant.
Though called a restaurant, it was actually shaped like a giant ship with fish-shaped figureheads at both ends. It was spacious enough to clearly accommodate many customers.
Ace cheered and shouted, "Let's go! Let's get off and eat!"
The ship docked at Baratie's mooring area, and he led everyone excitedly off the ship.
Noyer asked the aloof sniper Mihar, "Aren't you coming down to eat?"
Mihar shook his head and said in a low voice, "Just have the captain bring me something."
Noyer shrugged, then caught up with Ace, who was running ahead. The four of them pushed open the door and entered the restaurant.
From the outside, Baratie looked quite flashy, but inside, it had the appearance of a high-class restaurant.
Clean — that was Noyer's first thought upon entering. The basic requirement of any restaurant is hygiene, and Baratie had clearly passed that test.
Noyer, Ace, Deuce, and Skull found a four-person table and sat down.
Soon a neatly dressed waiter came over, holding a menu. He smiled and asked, "What would you gentlemen like to eat?"
Ace picked up the menu and looked at it, but when he saw the prices… the three of them simultaneously turned their gazes to Noyer.
There was no choice — their ship had sunk, and all the money on board was gone.
Now the wealthy one, Noyer looked at everyone's burning gazes and said magnanimously, "Order whatever you want! I've got money!"
With their sugar daddy's blessing, Ace was unleashed. With an arrogant attitude, he waved the menu dismissively and said coolly, "One of everything!"
The waiter immediately looked at them as if they were monsters.
Soon, his tone became cold, "I'm sorry, gentlemen, but we don't welcome such waste of food."
Noyer looked alarmed, "Can you guys even eat all that?"
For the first time, Ace radiated an emperor-like aura, and even Deuce and Skull took on the bearing of masters.
The moment eating was mentioned, the three instantly switched from their usual carefree attitude to dead serious expressions. The speed of their transformation rivaled a certain caped bald man entering serious mode.
Deuce propped his chin with his hand, his gaze sharp, "Mr. Noyer, you don't understand — when it comes to eating, we're undefeated!"
Ace slapped the table and told the waiter, "Don't worry, we'll eat everything. Not a single bite will be left."
Since the customers had spoken, the waiter could only comply, no matter how much he doubted them.
Before long, sumptuous dishes were brought out and quickly filled the entire table. Then a scene unfolded that left everyone in the restaurant dumbfounded.
Ace, Deuce, and Skull ate like starving ghosts reincarnated. They didn't even use utensils — they threw the food, plates and all, directly into their mouths…
And then spat out the plates…
Watching the three wolf down food in front of him, Noyer suddenly felt oddly out of place eating with a fork.
Ace's mouth was stuffed full of large chunks of meat as he mumbled incomprehensibly, "Noyer, hurry ub! If ya can' finish, we'll helb ya!"
"What the hell are you saying?" Noyer said, exasperated.
As the food decreased, the three showed no signs of slowing down. In fact, they became even more brazen.
Even the food in front of Noyer was snatched away by a sinful hand!
This was unacceptable!
Noyer hadn't even had enough to fill the gaps between his teeth!
Back in his school days, he was the number one eating champion, earning the nicknames "Eater Emperor" and "The Cafeteria's Greatest Fear!"
He couldn't lose to these guys!
Noyer abandoned all elegance and manners. He stood up, planted his foot on the table with overwhelming momentum, and fought Ace for the food with both hands.
The Eating Squad of Four officially debuted. Everyone in the restaurant looked at them with pity.
Look how starved these poor kids are!
The waiter felt ashamed of his earlier thoughts. These were clearly kids who'd been hungry since birth — he was wrong to have spoken to them that way!
The commotion from the four was considerable. The kitchen was now executing a military operation.
A waiter ran in drenched in sweat, shouting, "Those customers have ordered another whole menu!"
"What?!"
"You've got to be kidding! They've already eaten twenty servings!"
"Damn it! My chef's soul is burning! We can't lose to them!"
Several tall men in chef's uniforms rushed around the kitchen. One exquisite, appetizing dish after another was brought out.
The cooking speed was incredibly fast. Both servers and cooks were sweating profusely, but even so, they still couldn't keep up with the gluttons outside.
For a restaurant, having the kitchen unable to match the customers' eating speed was shameful. Especially when nearly everyone in the kitchen was working, yet still couldn't keep up with just one table.
The kitchen staff swore that those four ate more food than all the restaurant's customers combined ate in an entire day!
Just when everyone was at a loss, a young man in a suit appeared. His face was surprisingly youthful, but his eyebrows drew the most attention.
One eye was hidden by his yellow hair, while the other was framed by a spiral eyebrow that seemed hypnotic if you stared too long.
Sanji, the young sous chef of Baratie, stood in the increasingly chaotic kitchen and commanded, "Calm down!"
The kitchen staff immediately quieted.
His face was stern as he ordered, "Assign two more cooks to make food for those guys. I'll check the situation outside."
With that, he walked out and soon found the highly conspicuous eating squad of four.
The table where the four sat was still a battlefield — Deuce and Skull were about to start wrestling, and Noyer and Ace even had flames coming from their hands.
Sanji walked to the table, his mouth twitching as he looked at them.
He valued table manners greatly and didn't care for how these guys were eating.
But he was also magnanimous and wouldn't force others to be like him. As long as someone was hungry and came to this restaurant — came before Sanji — they were his customers.
But eating to this degree? He was truly seeing this for the first time.
Sanji looked at the four and asked with composure, "Gentlemen, is everything to your satisfaction?"
Noyer's eyes shifted, and he immediately recognized those familiar eyebrows.
Hmm… getting a bit dizzy there!
Noyer contentedly waved the steak in his hand, "Not bad, not bad, though your service is a bit slow. We're just getting warmed up!"
Sanji's face twitched. This was just getting warmed up?
If you guys actually got full, the kitchen staff's heads would probably explode!
Sanji couldn't help but be deeply shocked.
According to the law of energy conservation in the One Piece world, you can judge someone's strength to some extent by how much they eat.
Noyer and Ace both had ridiculously strong physiques, and even Skull and Deuce far surpassed normal people. So eating a lot wasn't embarrassing!
But Sanji didn't know this. He felt these people were too extreme. This was definitely one of the biggest challenges of his career.
Noyer wiped his mouth and summoned the system to examine the other party's talents.
﹃﹃﹃﹃﹃﹃﹃﹃﹃﹃﹃﹃﹃﹃﹃
" Vinsmoke Sanji "
" Talents:〔 Culinary Grandmaster [Red/2nd Rank] 〕|〔 Black Leg Chef [Red/2nd Rank] 〕|〔 Friend of Women [Purple/3rd Rank] 〕 "
﹃﹃﹃﹃﹃﹃﹃﹃﹃﹃﹃﹃﹃﹃﹃
〔 Culinary Grandmaster 〕
〔 Rank: Red 〕
〔 Description: His love and talent for cooking make him more focused and efficient when learning cuisine. When preparing dishes, the food becomes more enticing and delicious. 〕
﹃﹃﹃﹃﹃﹃﹃﹃﹃﹃﹃﹃﹃﹃﹃
〔 Black Leg Chef 〕
〔 Rank: Red 〕
〔 Description: As an excellent chef, he never dirties his hands — the tools of his craft — so his legs undergo rigorous training instead. He incorporates culinary techniques into his combat style, making his kicks far more powerful than ordinary ones. 〕
﹃﹃﹃﹃﹃﹃﹃﹃﹃﹃﹃﹃﹃﹃﹃
〔 Friend of Women 〕
〔 Rank: Purple 〕
〔 Description: Obsessed with women. When his teammates are female and enemies are male, his combat power increases based on the women's charm — potentially multiplying several times over. When the enemy is female and teammates are male, Sanji's combat power decreases based on the woman's charm, potentially dropping to negative values. When both the enemy and teammates are female, Sanji's combat power decreases based on the combined charm of both ally and enemy, potentially dropping to zero. 〕
﹄﹄﹄﹄﹄﹄﹄﹄﹄﹄﹄﹄﹄﹄﹄
Good grief!
Noyer was truly opening his eyes today — this was the first time he'd seen such a lengthy talent description.
Though long, combined with Sanji's perverted nature, the meaning was clear. Three scenarios.
If his teammate was female, like Nami, and the enemy was Zoro, he'd receive a power boost and might kick Zoro down for an instant kill.
But if his teammate was Zoro and the enemy was Nami, his combat power would drop to negative, and he'd start kicking Zoro in the face.
And if his teammate was Nami while his opponent was Robin, Sanji might as well not exist. The two women would be fine, but he'd inexplicably pass away…
Truly worthy of the famous perverted chef Sanji — you're the biggest variable in any battle!
『 Met Important Characters: Vinsmoke Sanji! Rewards: Red Talent Copy Card x1, White Copy Card x10, Master-Level Cooking x1, Constitution +10! 』
The system's cold voice rang out. Noyer smiled, unsurprised. Rewards related to Sanji would naturally connect to his identity as a chef.
In an instant, massive amounts of knowledge flooded his mind, and his hands felt as though they'd gripped a kitchen knife for years. The dishes he'd just been praising suddenly seemed mediocre.
A voice echoed in his mind: I could do this too!
The taste and quality had declined, the plating was careless, and a few dishes made him want to curse!
Noyer frowned, "Can I take a look at your kitchen?"
Sanji's spiral eyebrow twitched, "I'm sorry, sir, but our kitchen can only be entered by chefs. Is there a problem with our kitchen?"
Noyer nodded and pointed at the dishes, "The ingredients and craftsmanship are getting worse with each one. I just want to see how you're making the food."
Hearing these rude words, even Sanji got angry.
Though the kitchen staff was rushed, if a dish made it to the customer's table, it meant the chef had made it to a satisfactory level.
Sanji had faith in his restaurant's standards. Otherwise, Baratie wouldn't have such a reputation in the East Blue.
Moreover, you've been eating here for so long, fighting over food like a gang war — how can you say the food isn't good now?
Sanji was annoyed, and Noyer felt his face getting thick. But he couldn't help it — he hadn't expected to suddenly become a culinary master while eating.
He quickly explained, "I can also cook. If you don't mind, could I borrow your kitchen to make a dish myself?"
"You can cook?"
Sanji's expression softened slightly, but he still refused, "Our restaurant cooks for our customers. We don't let customers cook for themselves."
Seeing his insistence, Noyer had no choice but to give up. But at that moment, an aged yet resonant voice rang out.
"Let him go, Sanji!"
Noyer looked toward the voice and saw an old man in chef's clothes and an extremely tall chef's hat walking over.
The old man's golden beard was braided like a pretzel below his nose, extending stiffly to both sides. His wooden prosthetic right leg tapped loudly on the floor.
The old man's face seemed naturally grumpy. He glared at Sanji with bulging eyes, "If the customer isn't satisfied with your food and wants to cook for themselves, let them. No matter what, if we can't satisfy a customer's taste, that's our responsibility as chefs."
"You old geezer! But…"
Sanji tried to dissuade him, but the old man waved his hand, cutting him off.
He walked up to Noyer with a fierce expression, "But if we find out you're playing us…"
Noyer listened to the old man's threat with nonchalance, not taking it to heart.
This old man must be "Red Leg" Zeff. Anyone who could sail the Grand Line for a year and return had impressive strength.
But that wasn't enough to scare Noyer. He wiped his hands and mouth, stood up, and walked toward the kitchen. Zeff followed closely behind.
Sanji scratched his head and muttered in distress, "This is really getting chaotic…"
Meanwhile, the Foodies 4 group — minus one person — was still fighting on the front lines, with no sign of stopping.
◇◆◈◆◇
Noyer entered the kitchen. Zeff looked at the flustered cooks and stroked his stiff beard with a dark expression.
The cooks saw their head chef leading in a stranger and asked curiously, "Head chef, who is he? A new hire?"
Zeff shook his head, "He's one of those customers at that table eating so much. He's not satisfied with your cooking and wants to cook for himself!"
"What?!"
The cooks exclaimed in shock and anger.
Though they were rushing to serve dishes, the quality definitely met their standards. Yet this guy was saying their cooking wasn't good?
And coming into the kitchen to cook himself? This was an insult to any chef!
Everyone glared at Noyer. A few fierce-looking ones even wanted to roll up their sleeves and teach him a lesson.
But Zeff's loud shout stopped them all. He moved aside, pointed at the cooking utensils on the counter, and said, "Please!"
Noyer ignored their piercing stares and picked up a kitchen knife. His casual gaze suddenly became sharp!
Serious mode activated!
He picked up a fresh fish. The kitchen knife flashed with brilliant light several times, and the fish's skin and flesh bloomed open like a flower.
Noyer extracted the white fish bones smoothly, without any obstruction — not even a trace of flesh remained on them. Just from this one move, the eyes of Zeff and all the cooks instantly changed.
Sanji watched with amazement and praised silently, 'What skillful technique.'
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T/N: Comment, give me Power Stones, like and favorite, it all supports me and makes me go foward with this. Appreciate my other stories as well, I guarantee the good work!
If you want more chapters of this novel or enjoy a large catalog of good novels with excellent translations: MrBlackWing (you know where to search)
That's it and happy reading! (-‿◦)