"A Devil Fruit user? This guy hid it pretty well."
Sanji followed Luffy's stretched neck out with a cigarette between his lips.
He arrived just in time to witness Nami feeding him.
The moment his gaze landed on Nami, time seemed to freeze.
Sunlight streamed through the restaurant's portholes, outlining Nami's delicate profile and graceful figure. Especially that glimpse of pale neck beneath her short orange hair.
She looked like an angel descended to earth!
"Ah, what a beautiful lady."
Sanji's eyes glazed over.
It was as though Cupid's arrow had pierced straight through him, and hearts were practically bursting out of his eyes.
But the next second, his eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.
After feeding Luffy, Nami casually picked up the spoon she'd just used, naturally scooped up some of the pudding in front of her, and brought it between her soft red lips.
It had been an unconscious action.
When Nami realized what she'd done, she froze for a second.
Then she simply continued eating.
She reassured herself internally.
They'd already slept in the same room, and he'd even pinned her down before.
Weren't those things way worse than this?
Besides, nobody saw it!
If nobody saw it, then it never happened.
Mm.
Perfect excuse.
Sanji: "..."
That spoon!
That goddamn spoon!
That Straw Hat brat had just eaten from it!
Wasn't that basically an indirect kiss?!
Three minutes passed in the blink of an eye.
Once Luffy had finished eating and drinking, his head retracted back to its original position.
"Hey, you damn brat! Explain yourself! What's your relationship with that beautiful lady?"
Like a starving demon crawling out of hell, Sanji grabbed Luffy by the collar.
"What relationship?"
Luffy froze for a moment.
He thought about it.
After reading that medical book, his brain had finally opened up a little, and he now understood a few things about that sort of relationship.
He couldn't let anyone misunderstand.
Luffy looked at Sanji with an utterly serious expression.
"Nami is my most important navigator!"
His most important navigator?
Of course.
Heh.
Feeding him personally.
Using the same spoon.
What other kind of relationship could they possibly have?
Damn it!
Even this Straw Hat brat had found love.
Where was mine?!
"Do you two have nothing better to do?"
Zeff walked over, looking slightly surprised as well.
He glanced at Sanji and gave him a warning.
"Don't go harassing the customers on this ship."
"Got it."
Sanji looked devastated.
"Don't worry, I'll keep an eye on him!" Luffy immediately replied.
"Hm?"
Zeff looked at Luffy, then at Sanji.
He pondered for a moment before nodding.
"If he does anything weird from now on, just punch him."
"Like that? Got it."
Luffy nodded.
This counted as entrusting him to his family, right?
When he'd recruited Zoro and the others individually, nobody had given him requirements like this.
Luffy grinned at Sanji.
The smile sent goosebumps crawling across Sanji's skin.
"Wait. What the hell do you two mean by that?"
"Nothing much. Pack your stuff and get out later. You're fired."
Zeff waved dismissively.
"Are you kidding me?! I'm the sous-chef!"
Sanji was furious.
"And I'm the head chef. Did you forget this is my ship?"
Zeff stared him down.
Crackle—
It almost seemed as though electricity flashed between their gazes.
No.
It wasn't coming from them.
"Yeah, yeah. That's my problem."
Luffy scratched his head awkwardly.
【Multiple scheduled tasks completed. Punishment reduced from Stage Two to Stage One. Food replenishment period complete. Warning: Next scheduled activity is 【Studying Navigation with Nami】. Proceed immediately. Countdown: 30, 29... 1.】
For the first time, seeing a countdown didn't make Luffy panic.
He even felt like laughing.
Go ahead.
Shock him all it wanted.
It didn't affect him at all.
As long as it wasn't that kind of punishment, he could accept anything.
Zeff had, after all, spent an entire year sailing the Grand Line and returned safely.
It wasn't as though he'd never seen all kinds of bizarre Devil Fruit users before.
No matter how strange it was, the Gum-Gum Fruit was still only a Paramecia-type Devil Fruit.
What kind of tricks could it possibly pull?
But what the hell was with electricity coming off his body?
Rubber and electricity together?
Don't tell me it was actually one of those legendary Mythical Zoan types?
At that moment, a deafening explosion suddenly erupted from the restaurant.
Someone was causing trouble?
Almost simultaneously, Zeff and Sanji stopped arguing.
Their expressions darkened, even beginning to twitch violently.
Just looking at their faces was enough to feel the fury radiating from them.
Luffy had thought both Sanji and Zeff were the calm type, the kind who wouldn't let anything shake their emotions.
Now he understood.
Everyone had something in their heart that could never be trampled upon.
And for Sanji and the others, it wasn't simply because someone was causing trouble.
What did wrecking the restaurant mean?
For a chef, it was even more intolerable than being slapped directly across the face.
Because it meant wasting all their hard work.
It was a desecration of food!
Luffy understood that feeling perfectly.
If someone did something unforgivable to his crewmates or his hat, he'd get angry too.
And now, Sanji's problems were his problems!
Was the trouble being caused by that Marine from earlier?