"You must be the chef of this restaurant. I heard you're good at cooking. I've started a pirate crew, and we need a cook. Why don't you come aboard my ship?"
Luffy grinned as he extended the invitation directly to the tall, peg-legged man in front of him—Head Chef Zeff.
"Hey, Lock… is it okay to just ask him like that?" Nami whispered, peeking from outside the door. "He's the head chef of this whole restaurant. Luffy's acting like he can just walk off with him."
Lock, arms folded, smirked. "Don't worry. Zeff isn't going to leave this place. But…"—he tapped his chest—"he might just use this as an excuse to push a certain other chef onto us."
"What kind of coincidence would that be?" Usopp muttered, pressing his ear to the door. "If you're so sure, why didn't you invite him instead of letting Luffy make a fool of himself?"
A few minutes earlier…
"Oi, Luffy," Lock had said, rowing alongside the others toward the restaurant, "later, you go and invite the head chef to join our crew."
Zoro had nearly dropped his oar. "Are you kidding? Do you even know what a head chef means? He runs this whole restaurant, it's famous across the seas, and business is booming. You think he'd abandon all this to sail with pirates? That's insane!"
Lock grinned. "My goal isn't to get Zeff to join us. It's to see if we can 'take' someone else from him. Think of it like this: if you went to buy an egg and the seller asked for 100 beli, you'd walk away, right? But if he started at 100 beli and then dropped the price to 10, suddenly it feels like a good deal."
Nami's eyes lit up. "Ah, I get it. We aim high first—the head chef—and when he refuses, we 'settle' for one of the others. Makes it easier to convince him to give us a chef. But…" She tilted her head. "Why Luffy?"
Lock chuckled. "Because he's sincere. He's cheerful. Sunny. No one can hate that idiot's honesty. Old men especially like people like Luffy."
Nami and Zoro stared at him blankly. "Sunny? Cheerful?"
"Fools," Lock muttered.
"Oi! We just asked a question, Why are you insulting us?!" they snapped back in unison.
Lock ignored them, pointing toward Luffy.
"You mean him? That idiot?"
He nodded firmly.
"Fine," Nami sighed. "But if this goes wrong, it's on you, Captain."
"Leave it to me!" Luffy said with his usual bright grin.
Back in Zeff's Office
"Huh? You're saying you want me to join your crew?"
"Yes, that's right!" Luffy nodded.
"You want me to give up this entire restaurant and sail with you?"
"Yes, that's right!"
"Are you serious?"
"Yes, that's right!"
Zeff's mustache bristled as his face turned red. "Is that all you can say, brat?!"
Outside, Nami pressed her hands over her ears. "Lock… didn't you say old men like Luffy's style? He looks like he's about to explode!"
Lock had his ears covered too, wincing at the chef's roar. "It's fine. Don't worry. Let Luffy… 'persuade' him a little longer."
Meanwhile, in the Dining Hall
A pink-haired Marine lieutenant named Fullbody sneered as he pointed to his soup bowl. "Oi, what's this insect doing in my food? Care to explain?"
Sanji approached with his usual calm elegance. "I'm sorry, sir. I can't be sure."
The blonde woman seated across from Fullbody tried to soothe him, but the officer slammed his fist against the table. "You don't know?! I'm a paying customer, and you serve me this?"
Sanji bowed his head slightly. "I don't know much about insects, sir."
A ripple of laughter spread through the restaurant—guests chuckling despite themselves.
"You think this is funny?!" Fullbody roared, standing so abruptly his chair toppled over. He smashed the table in front of him with a single punch, sending crockery flying.
Sanji knelt by the spilled soup, dipping his fingers into it with quiet fury. "This broth… took three days and three nights to perfect."
Fullbody sneered and stomped on Sanji's hand. "Watch your tone. I'm a customer, and you're nothing but a cook!"
"Stop it, Lieutenant Fullbody!" the blonde woman cried, grabbing his arm.
"Shut up!" he snapped, shoving her to the ground.
"Mr. Fullbody…?" she whispered, staring up at him in disbelief. The gentleman she thought she knew had vanished, replaced by a cruel brute.
The chefs burst from the kitchen. "Deputy chef!"
But Sanji was already standing, his face shadowed, a cigarette dangling from his lips. One hand shoved in his pocket, the other gripping Fullbody by the collar, he hissed through clenched teeth:
"Don't you dare waste food. At sea, disrespecting a meal is the same as asking for death. Remember that, Marine."
Back in Zeff's Office
Bang! Bang!
Zeff's peg-leg cracked against the floor as he cuffed Luffy around, but the boy just bounced back up with a grin.
"You little brat… You still won't give up?"
"Nope!" Luffy beamed, despite the bruises.
Zeff finally exhaled, a hint of a smile in his beard. "Hah. You've got willpower, I'll give you that."
Nami peeked through the doorway. "Luffy… he's not dead yet, right?"
Lock smirked faintly, arms folded. "He's fine. This is just the warm-up."