In truth, the timeline of the future had already been drastically altered. Even if Bardock hadn't managed to directly intercept the Arlong Pirates yet, the situation in the East Blue would likely never deteriorate to the horrific depths it had in the original canon. Captain Nezumi, the corrupt Marine officer who was supposed to collude with Arlong and provide him political cover, had already been completely ruined and stripped of his power by Bardock.
As for the Black Cat Pirates and their cunning Captain, 'Kuro of a Hundred Plans', Bardock still hadn't found a single trace of his whereabouts.
Strangely enough, Buggy the Clown was also completely missing in action. Logically, with 'Red-Haired' Shanks making massive waves in the New World, Buggy should have had some kind of reaction. Yet, despite practically touring the entire East Blue, the White Dragon crew hadn't seen a single shadow of the Buggy Pirates.
However, Bardock had managed to cross paths with Koby, the future 'Good Man of the Navy'. How to describe him? Currently, he looked completely, utterly ordinary. But considering Koby would eventually grow into a true, high-tier powerhouse in just over two years, the boy's raw, latent talent was undeniable.
Despite recognizing his immense potential, Bardock had absolutely zero interest in recruiting Koby. The kid was simply far too much of a saint—a pure 'white lotus'. Even within the highly disciplined ranks of the Navy, someone with his painfully naive, overly compassionate mindset was an extreme outlier. The fiercely pragmatic White Dragon crew simply had no room for someone that soft-hearted.
One day, amidst a raging East Blue rainstorm, several crew members were gathered in the Captain's quarters of the White Dragon, examining a large nautical chart.
"So, our next destination is the 'Bridge Kingdom', Tequila Wolf?" Robin asked, gracefully tracing a route on the map.
Bardock nodded in confirmation. "That's right. Our tour of the East Blue is just about wrapped up. We've already visited the Oykot Kingdom, the Cozia Kingdom, and the ruins of Flevance. This unique country built entirely on a bridge—which has supposedly been under construction for 700 years—is the final stop worth seeing."
"What kind of stupid, broken-down bridge takes 700 years to build?" Perona asked, genuinely baffled as she floated near the ceiling.
Robin shot Perona a highly judgmental look—she had explicitly explained this piece of history to her before—but she patiently elaborated anyway. "Seven hundred years ago, for reasons completely unknown to the public, the Celestial Dragons issued a supreme decree to construct a massive bridge connecting various islands across the ocean.
"Today, seven centuries later, that bridge is still under construction. The completed portion serves as the physical foundation for the Bridge Kingdom, Tequila Wolf. The vast majority of its population consists of criminals and citizens from nations not officially affiliated with the World Government. They are forced into horrific, backbreaking slave labor to build the bridge every single day."
"What?! That is way too cruel!" Perona gasped. Just imagining the hellish, agonizing daily lives of Tequila Wolf's enslaved citizens made her shudder.
"It's likely far more horrific than you're imagining," Bardock added grimly.
Just then, the door swung open, and Enel walked in. "Captain. My Mantra just picked up faint cries for help out on the sea. Should we go take a look?"
Honestly, ever since descending from the Sky Islands, Enel's worldview and personality had undergone a massive, positive shift. Back during his arrogant 'God' days on Birka, he wouldn't have cared in the slightest if a mortal was drowning in the ocean below him.
"Let's check it out. It's just a small effort," Bardock replied casually, steering the ship toward the coordinates.
When the White Dragon finally approached the location, Bardock was genuinely surprised. He had previously wondered why they hadn't spotted the sea restaurant Baratie despite practically sailing across the entire East Blue. It turned out that Zeff and young Sanji were currently stranded on a barren, towering rock formation, rapidly starving to death.
After pulling the two emaciated survivors aboard, the golden ship resumed its course.
Down in the White Dragon's warm dining hall, Zeff and Sanji—both reduced to mere skin and bones—were aggressively inhaling the food placed in front of them.
"How long have they been starving? They're eating like they've been possessed by famished ghosts," Perona muttered, watching the spectacle with wide eyes.
Indeed, Zeff and Sanji were violently stuffing food into their mouths at a terrifying, frantic pace. Only in the logic-defying world of the sea could someone eat like that without immediately choking to death.
Hearing Perona's voice, the young Sanji abruptly looked up from his plate. His eyes instantly morphed into massive, throbbing pink hearts. "Ah! Such a beautiful miss! Thank you so much for saving our lives! To be honest, we were trapped on that miserable rock for exactly eighty days!"
Bardock nodded thoughtfully. Eighty days... that was basically right in line with the original timeline. Even if the White Dragon hadn't passed by, they probably would have been rescued by a passing passenger ship within a few days. But more importantly... was Sanji already acting like an absolute simp? Had his ridiculous, woman-obsessed nature blossomed this early?
"Hey, curly brows! Stop staring at me like a total pervert!" Perona backed away quickly, thoroughly creeped out by the young boy's intensely fiery gaze.
"Ah, my sincerest apologies," Sanji quickly retracted his gaze, looking genuinely apologetic. "It has simply been far too long since I laid eyes on a beauty as stunning as yourself. I briefly lost my composure."
Sensing his earnest tone, Perona couldn't really bring herself to stay mad at the weird kid.
In a miraculously short amount of time, Zeff and Sanji's emaciated bodies began to visually inflate like balloons, rapidly recovering their healthy muscle mass. This wasn't because they had mastered the advanced Marine technique Life Return (Seimei Kikan); it was just a bizarre biological quirk of this specific world. As long as a person consumed enough high-quality food and calories, their body could recover from the absolute brink of death almost instantly.
"If I'm not mistaken, you are 'Red-Leg' Zeff, the Captain of the Cook Pirates, correct?" Robin asked curiously, having finally recognized the older man's identity. "Weren't you sailing in the Grand Line?"
Hearing another female voice, Sanji whipped his head around, his eyes instantly turning back into giant hearts. "Ah! Another breathtakingly beautiful miss! Yes, this grumpy old geezer is technically a pirate, but he's actually a pretty decent guy!"
Sanji was deeply worried that their heavily armed saviors might turn hostile upon discovering Zeff's infamous pirate identity, so he desperately tried to vouch for him. During their agonizing time trapped on that desolate rock, Sanji had grown to deeply respect the old man. If Zeff hadn't secretly given Sanji the entire sack of food—choosing to starve and sacrifice his own leg—Sanji knew for an absolute fact that he would have died.
Perona just rolled her eyes, scoffing at the boy's repetitive "beautiful miss" routine.
"I am Zeff, yes. But I'm no longer 'Red-Leg'," Zeff stated gruffly, pointing down to where his right leg had been severed. "The Grand Line is far too treacherous. I barely made it out of there with my life. I don't plan on being a pirate ever again. I'm going to use whatever savings I have left to open a floating sea restaurant."
"A sea restaurant? That sounds like a fantastic endeavor," Bardock smiled warmly, his interest genuinely piqued. "I actually happen to be quite passionate about culinary arts myself. Before you two disembark, why don't we exchange some cooking pointers?"
Over the following days, Bardock and Zeff spent hours in the kitchen passionately debating and exchanging culinary techniques. Young Sanji, eager to learn as an aspiring chef, glued himself to their sides.
The Cook Pirates were an incredibly rare anomaly on the sea—a crew captained by an actual head chef. Aside from being a formidable fighter in his prime, Zeff's culinary skills were genuinely top-tier. Through his guidance, especially regarding highly specific East Blue delicacies and seafood preparation, Bardock gained an immense amount of valuable cooking knowledge.
In return, Bardock provided Zeff with plenty of groundbreaking ideas. Drawing upon his memories of diverse, modern cuisines from his past life, combined with the exotic ingredients he had tasted across the various seas, Bardock's theoretical knowledge was incredibly profound. Their discussions were so inspiring that Zeff was almost tempted to permanently stay aboard the White Dragon just to keep talking about food.
However, Sanji was the absolute biggest winner in this exchange. Like a sponge, the boy fiercely absorbed every single shred of culinary knowledge, technique, and philosophy the two men discussed. His practical cooking skills skyrocketed, and his palate and culinary vision were vastly broadened.
Time flew by quickly. During their third stop at a populated island for supplies, Zeff and Sanji officially decided to disembark.
It was perfectly understandable that Zeff wanted to leave to retire and begin building his dream restaurant, but to Bardock's mild surprise, Sanji also firmly rejected an official invitation to join the White Dragon crew.
Bardock had initially hoped to recruit the high-quality future chef. While the ship currently utilized advanced, fully automated Skypiean robots to handle the daily cooking, their mechanical, standardized meals simply couldn't compare to the soul and flavor of a true top-tier chef. And Bardock certainly wasn't going to cook for the crew every single day.
Sanji's reasoning was absolute: he was determined to follow Zeff and help him build and run the sea restaurant to repay his life debt. However, he bowed deeply to Bardock and the crew, swearing that he would forever remember their life-saving grace and would absolutely repay them in the future.
After bidding the two aspiring restaurateurs a fond farewell, the White Dragon set sail once more. A few days later, the massive, imposing structure of the Bridge Kingdom finally appeared on the horizon.
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