Another year had passed. Luffy was now over six years old, while Ace had reached eight.
During this year, Po's strength had continued growing at an astonishing rate. His Observation Haki and Armament Haki had reached considerable levels, and his mastery of the Marine's Six Powers had also advanced significantly. Only his Conqueror's Haki remained unawakened—whether Po possessed the qualifications to awaken this rarest form of Haki remained uncertain.
However, according to Gustave's estimation, Po's current level had reached that of an elite Vice Admiral or Admiral candidate at Marine Headquarters. Within the East Blue, he was already invincible.
As for Gustave himself, he'd reached a level below Po's from two years ago. His strength should now be considered that of an East Blue powerhouse.
Fortunately, Gustave was no longer dead last in their morning jogs. He could now easily outrun Luffy and Ace, even while carrying weights.
Of course, Gustave still couldn't match Po and Tom, and he was taking advantage of the fact that Luffy and Ace hadn't yet grown up and their bodies weren't fully developed.
Therefore, Gustave's current status was—King of Children! Among their group, he could only bully Luffy and Ace.
During this past year, because Garp had turned that young noble into a simpleton, no more big-spending nobles came to patronize "Bamboo Staff Bistro," which had somewhat slowed Gustave's savings rate.
Fortunately, because Gustave had cooked aboard Garp's warship at the time, word of mouth had gained him a customer base among the Marine. Passing Marines would regularly stop by to dine.
Since no nobles were monopolizing the establishment, the second-floor private rooms weren't as constantly occupied as before, giving Gustave some free time.
Seeing this, Tom had asked Gustave to help with Western cuisine. Why? Because Tom had acquired a piano from somewhere and placed it on the first floor. Tom no longer wanted to be a cook—he wanted to be a musician!
However, there were benefits to Tom playing piano daily. After dinner, guests enjoyed sitting and listening to Tom's performances. They couldn't just sit there doing nothing—they needed snacks, peanuts, or something to munch on. This led to a surge in alcohol consumption.
However, since Makino had always handled drink supplies, when Tom stopped cooking to become a musician, Makino was the happiest person of all.
This made Gustave quite envious—side dishes couldn't generate as much profit as beverages!
But Gustave had actually made substantial money. Up to now, the earnings from "Bamboo Staff Bistro" plus bounties from occasionally fighting pirates had accumulated over two hundred million Berries. With a bit more work, he'd be able to travel to Water 7 to commission a ship.
It was a brilliantly sunny day, just like any other. However, since it was past lunchtime, only two sparsely occupied tables of guests remained at "Bamboo Staff Bistro," having ordered some side dishes and drinks.
These guests had originally come to enjoy Tom's piano playing, but the weather was rather hot today, so Tom had chosen to go on strike and found a cool spot for a nap.
This kind of weather was particularly uncomfortable for Po. After all, with that thick fur coat, he couldn't simply sleep like Tom. He could only move a stool outside and fan himself with a palm leaf fan, looking exactly like an elderly man.
Gustave was preparing to cook a pot of mung bean soup to beat the heat, but for the soup to achieve the proper color and sandy texture, the beans needed to soak for about an hour. Gustave had just finished setting them to soak.
As for Luffy and Ace, it could only be said that children handled heat far better than adults. While the sun blazed overhead and the sand burned beneath their feet, the two boys were out on the beach, practicing wild martial arts moves with all the seriousness of seasoned warriors. Their latest obsession had come from the sect competitions Gustave described in his stories.
Gustave had already told them countless stories about wandering knights, righteous swordsmen, and code-bound heroes. So, on quieter days, he began to share something else—a deeper hobby of his, one he usually reserved for moments of peace: reading novels.
For Gustave, literature wasn't just a pastime—it was a gateway to other worlds. He read voraciously, not only the great classics of the West, but also the rich sagas of the East. From sprawling Chinese xianxia epics filled with flying swords and immortal sects, to action-packed Japanese light novels about underdogs rising through tournaments or cooking their way to the top, Gustave's tastes were broad and refined.
These stories became his new gift to the boys.
"Hey, Ace! Watch my move—Flying Dragon in the Sky!" Luffy leaped high and swung his right palm toward Ace. The technique he was attempting was naturally the legendary Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms, though Luffy's palm lacked the tiger's roar and dragon's power of Qiao Feng's version from the novel Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils.
Seeing Luffy jump up, Ace slid low and swept his legs, followed by the sound of Luffy crashing into the sand.
"Ace, I don't accept defeat! Let's go again!" Luffy, spitting sand from his mouth, quickly scrambled up from the beach and shouted his displeasure at Ace.
But Ace was obviously not in the mood to continue their sparring. Instead, he stared seriously at the distant sea.
Following Ace's gaze, a large ship could be seen appearing on the horizon. A black flag hung from the ship, but the distance made it impossible to discern what was painted on it.
"Luffy, go get the telescope from the restaurant!" Ace called out urgently.
Hearing Ace's call, Luffy immediately turned and ran toward "Bamboo Staff Bistro." Although Luffy was usually frivolous, he was quite reliable in critical moments.
Luffy quickly dashed to the front desk, retrieved the telescope Tom had purchased from the cabinet, and ran back out.
"Ace, telescope!" Luffy handed over the instrument.
Ace took the telescope and focused it on the black flag flying from the distant ship. He discovered a skull painted on the flag with a scratch over the left eye socket, and beneath the skull were two crossed swords—clearly, this was a pirate flag.
"Luffy, they're pirates! Go warn the villagers!" After confirming the pirate flag, Ace immediately shouted to Luffy.
Hearing Ace's words, Luffy grasped the situation's severity and turned to run toward the village.
Since Luffy and Ace had already chosen their future paths, over the past year Gustave had not only trained with them but had also closed the shop for several days to borrow a boat from villagers and take them on expeditions to nearby waters.
During these journeys, Luffy and Ace had witnessed firsthand the harm pirates inflicted on civilians.
The most memorable—and their first such encounter—had been when they'd come across a pirate ship robbing a merchant ship. Gustave had immediately ordered Tom to steer their boat over for a rescue, but by the time they'd boarded the merchant ship, it was too late.
The merchant ship was littered with corpses. The pirates had spared no one, not even babies. None of the twenty-six people aboard had survived.
The perpetrator of this massacre was just a pirate with a mere two million Berry bounty. Such a pirate was nothing in the Grand Line or New World, yet he'd caused such devastating casualties.
But this wasn't even the full extent of this pirate's crimes. As he'd said before dying, he couldn't even remember how many civilians he'd killed in his lifetime. The twenty-six people on this merchant ship were nothing to him.
It was from this moment that Luffy and Ace truly comprehended the evil that pirates in this world represented, understanding what they would face in the future. But this was merely the beginning.
As Gustave and his group had periodically ventured out to sea to eliminate pirates, reports of pirate appearances in waters around the Goa Kingdom had become very rare.
Judging by the size of the pirate ship he'd spotted today, Ace immediately understood these were pirates from other blues—and they weren't ordinary pirates. He had to notify the villagers to take shelter.
Luffy ran through the village, shouting as he went: "Everyone! Pirates are coming!"
Upon hearing Luffy's warning, the villagers immediately sprang into action, quickly gathering their belongings and fleeing toward the forest.
Gustave heard Luffy's shout and immediately rushed out of the kitchen. He found that the two tables of guests had already fled, though fortunately they'd left money on the tables.
Tom had also awakened from his nap due to Luffy's commotion, while Po had already walked to the beach, waiting for the pirate ship's arrival.