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East Blue
Somewhere in the middle of the sea – Near the Baratie restaurant ship
After some time of sailing, Luffy and his crew finally spotted the Baratie restaurant ship in the distance, in all its glory, shaped like a fish.
Smelling the food from afar, Luffy and Chouchou became completely excited and started salivating.
"Is it just me, or does the Captain share some similarities with a dog?", Usopp asked, observing Luffy sitting at the ship's figurehead, sniffing the air, salivating, and with stars in his eyes.
"I bet if he had a tail, he'd be wagging it right now, just like Chouchou is doing", Kaya said beside Usopp, pointing to Chouchou, who was sitting on the deck, wagging his tail, sniffing the air, and salivating with stars in his eyes.
The two continued chatting and laughing quietly until Nami, who was at the helm steering the Merry, called out to them, "Instead of gossiping, how about you two lazybones help me with the sails, huh?"
""Yes, ma'am, right away"", the two said in unison, heading off to help Nami.
As they approached the restaurant, a Marine ship appeared very close to the starboard side of the Merry. Curious, Luffy got up from his spot at the figurehead and went to see what the ship wanted.
A man wearing a white pinstriped suit and brass knuckles stepped onto the deck of the Marine ship and, looking at the pirate flag beside him, said, "I don't recognize that flag."
"That's because we made it not too long ago", Luffy said, scratching his neck.
"So, just a bunch of idiotic rookies", the man said, scratching his chin thoughtfully. "I'm Lieutenant Fullbody, the Iron Fist. Who's the captain of this ship?"
"That would be me", Luffy said, crossing his arms.
Suddenly, everyone heard a woman's voice coming from inside Fullbody's ship, "What's taking so long? Come on, Fullbody, darling."
"You'd better listen to the lady and move along, Lieutenant", Zoro said from the side, his hand resting on the hilt of Wado Ichimonji.
Fullbody glared at Zoro and said, "You're lucky I'm on vacation and just want to relax and eat something good. But don't get used to it. If I meet you again while on duty, you're dead meat."
"Ooh, scary. Look at how terrified I am", Luffy said, his face neutral as he raised his right hand and mockingly shook it.
The Marine ship began to sail ahead, but not before Fullbody turned to one of his Marines and said, "Sink them."
"Yes, sir", the Marine saluted and went to prepare the stern cannon to fire.
As the shot was fired, Luffy didn't need to say or do anything before Zoro drew one of his swords, jumped to the figurehead of the Merry, and unleashed an 'Ittoryu - 36 Pound Cannon' sending a flying blade attack that easily split the cannonball in two, only stopping after it sliced a deep gash in the sea's surface, which closed after a few moments.
The two halves of the cannonball then fell into the sea behind the Merry, causing an explosion and a small splash of water.
"What the hell?", Fullbody shouted, jaw dropped at what had just happened.
"Sir, what are your orders? Should I continue firing?", the Marine at the cannon asked, sweating and swallowing nervously, terrified of these pirates.
At that moment, Fullbody's body screamed at him to flee immediately as he felt Luffy's gaze on him.
Trying not to make any eye contact with Luffy, Fullbody stammered, "L-let's leave these weaklings alone. It's not worth it. Let's just head to the restaurant."
On the Merry, Zoro asked Luffy while watching the Marine ship sail away, "Your orders, Captain?"
"Let it go, Zoro. There's no reason to use a cannon to kill a mosquito. Tangerine, let's dock at the restaurant", Luffy said, watching the Marine ship fade into the distance.
The closer they got to the restaurant, the more Luffy and Chouchou drooled at the smell of the food.
=Scene Break=
In the Baratie kitchen, the sous chef's nimble hands moved with trained skill and agility, preparing the ingredients for a dish.
He took a pot, filled it with water, and added a certain amount of salt. He then placed it on the stove, letting the water boil.
Once the water reached the right temperature, he added some diced cassava roots that he had washed earlier, leaving them to cook.
After about fifteen minutes, he turned on another burner and placed a sauté pan to heat up.
He then took the tender, firm fillets of yellow hake he had set aside and murmured, smelling the fresh fish, "Hmm, smells like the sea. It's really fresh."
He placed the fish on the cutting board and cut it into large pieces, seasoning them lightly with fine salt on both sides before setting them aside.
Grabbing a small peeled onion, he finely sliced it and set it aside.
Noticing that the sauté pan had reached the right temperature, he added about two tablespoons of olive oil.
Next, he added a tablespoon of butter to the pan, and without wasting time, he tossed in the finely chopped onion he had set aside.
He added a pinch of salt to prevent the onion from burning, allowing it to sweat without frying too much.
Then, he quickly sliced three cloves of garlic and set them aside for later. He took the meatier pieces of the fish and placed them skin-side down in the pan.
He did this to ensure the thinner pieces of fish wouldn't dry out, as they would cook faster than the thicker ones.
Afterward, he added a bit more olive oil to the pan. Seeing that the cassava was tender, he drained the water from the pot and returned it to the stove, this time adding a bit of butter.
When the thick pieces of fish began to cook, he added the thinner pieces to the pan.
He then added three whole sprigs of thyme to infuse the sauce with aroma, followed by two teaspoons of capers.
Next, he added the garlic he had sliced earlier and flipped the pieces of browning fish.
Slicing a lemon in half, he squeezed the juice of half the lemon into the pan. He then reduced the heat and added a splash of white wine.
After waiting about three minutes for the alcohol in the wine to evaporate, he covered the pan with a lid.
The lid would prevent any reduction of the liquid, allowing the fish to cook with the steam's heat, and the sauce to finish.
While waiting another three minutes, he took one of the butter-caramelized cassava pieces he had prepared earlier to taste and check if it needed more salt.
"Perfect", he murmured softly.
After three minutes, he turned everything off as it was ready, chopped some parsley, and added it to the cassava.
As he plated the dish, a large, muscular Black man dressed as a chef walked by and asked, "What's that, Sanji?"
"Yellow hake with caramelized cassava and a sauce of capers, white wine, butter, olive oil, thyme, and so on, Patty", Sanji replied, focused on plating his dish.
"Chef Zeff's not gonna like that", Patty said, starting his own work.
Without responding, Sanji finished plating the dish, placed it on the serving table, and rang the bell for a waiter to pick it up.
But instead, a man with blonde braided mustaches, dressed as a head chef and with a peg leg, appeared.
Looking at Sanji's prepared dish, he asked, "What the hell is this?"
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(AN: 1,270 Words)
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