When Ace and Luffy returned, they saw the large group of Red Hair Pirates, but because Shanks was blocked by other crew members, they simply assumed these were customers who had come to eat.
"Uncle Gustave! We called all the villagers back!" As soon as he entered the restaurant, Luffy eagerly squeezed past the Red Hair Pirates and ran to Gustave to claim credit.
"Really? Well done! We have guests, Luffy—go bring some water for them!" Gustave patted Luffy's head, praised him, and assigned him the task.
"No problem!" Luffy happily accepted the responsibility.
But when Luffy turned around, he found Shanks and Uta standing behind him.
"Hey, Shanks, it's you! When did you get here?"
Hearing Luffy's question, Shanks and Uta rolled their eyes. They'd been standing there when he'd entered just moments ago, and he was only noticing them now.
However, Shanks genuinely liked Luffy's personality. This kind of optimistic, somewhat carefree person was exactly to Shanks' liking.
"We just arrived. This is my daughter Uta, and this is Beckman..."
Shanks introduced all the Red Hair Pirates members to Luffy.
"So they're your friends, Shanks! No wonder there were so many people standing here," Luffy said, scratching the back of his head.
"We're here to order food, but we don't know what to choose. Can you help us?" Shanks suddenly thought to ask Luffy to help his group order. After all, judging by how Gustave had just directed Luffy, the boy must be very familiar with this restaurant's dishes.
"No problem!" Luffy was naturally cheerful and enjoyed helping others.
"Uncle Gustave, I'll help Shanks and the others order food then!" Luffy announced, turning around.
"Alright, go ahead, Luffy." Since Shanks had asked Luffy to do it, Gustave would naturally prepare dishes according to Luffy's selections.
"I want braised beef, braised beef shank, braised beef tendon, beef skin jelly..."
Luffy rattled off more than a dozen meat dishes in one breath, all primarily featuring beef.
Not long after arriving in the One Piece world, Gustave had begun searching for suitable cattle but found that domesticated cows were rare in remote villages. With no better option, he had ventured deep into the hills and managed to capture a few young wild bulls. Raising them was no small task—especially with their strength and temper—but through careful handling and proper feeding, he eventually raised a small herd of well-marbled beef cattle.
Once the animals matured, Gustave began crafting an array of beef-based dishes. From slow-braised tendon to rich, gelatinous beef skin jelly, every dish was packed with bold flavors. As expected, they quickly became favorites among the guests—especially Luffy, who had developed a particular obsession with them. That was why his entire order list was stacked with beef-heavy items.
After hearing Luffy's enthusiastic list, Uta blinked in mild confusion. She didn't recognize the names of the dishes, but one thing was certain—there wasn't a single flower among them, and that was the flavor she had been hoping to try.
So Uta asked:
"Luffy, I want to eat dishes made with flowers. Can you help me order them?"
Luffy was equally confused by Uta's request. You see, he usually preferred all kinds of meat dishes, and the little vegetarian food he ate had been forced on him by Gustave. He had no idea what dishes could be made with flowers.
Gustave naturally understood Luffy's nature, so he tapped the boy's head and said:
"I'm always telling you to eat more vegetables to maintain balanced nutrition. Look—now when Uta asks you, you don't even know what to order."
Then he addressed Uta:
"Uta, Luffy is usually very picky about food, so he doesn't know about vegetarian dishes. Let me recommend some to you."
Uta nodded eagerly.
"These are pumpkin flowers. You can stir-fry them with thin-sliced beef, scramble them with eggs, or use them to make a light soup. How would you like them prepared?"
Gustave pointed to the pumpkin flowers in the refrigerator.
"I'd like one made into soup. There didn't seem to be any soup among the dishes Luffy ordered," Uta said thoughtfully.
"And these are roses—but not the kind you usually see in flower shops. These are edible roses. I tested several varieties before settling on this one for its aroma and subtle flavor. At our restaurant, we typically deep-fry them to create a crisp floral snack. Would you like to try that?"
Gustave continued his introduction.
Uta naturally nodded. Honestly, she was very interested in the flowers in Gustave's restaurant and wanted to discover what they tasted like. Therefore, Uta ordered all five or six varieties of flowers available in the store.
The Red Hair Pirates ordered more than thirty dishes total, most of them meat-based. The vegetarian dishes were all ordered by Uta following Gustave's recommendations.
Because there were many people and they'd ordered numerous dishes, and the Red Hair Pirates members were larger than average people, Gustave combined two tables into one to accommodate everyone.
After the Red Hair Pirates were seated, Luffy ran to the kitchen area and poured water for them. When Gustave entered the kitchen, he realized he was short-handed, so he stuck his head out and called:
"Ace, go upstairs and get Tom for me!"
After Tom and Gustave had brought Po back, Tom had claimed to be sleepy and run back to his room for a nap. Now they were understaffed, and since Ace and Luffy didn't know how to cook, they could only call Tom down to help Gustave.
Hearing Gustave's instructions, Ace ran upstairs, woke the still-sleeping Tom, and explained that guests had arrived and Gustave was too busy to handle everything alone.
Tom had no choice but to force his eyes open and head downstairs. The cat was still drowsy and walked unsteadily, accidentally missing a step and tumbling from the third floor all the way to the first.
Ace was shocked seeing Tom roll down from the third floor and shouted in alarm:
"Tom!"
Then he hurried downstairs to check on him.
When Tom tumbled down the stairs, the Red Hair Pirates, who had been chatting and laughing, also heard the commotion. They looked toward the source of the noise and saw Tom rolling across the first floor.
"Kitty!" The one who reacted most dramatically was naturally Uta. Seeing Tom tumble out, she immediately ran over—after all, she was a girl and loved cats, dogs, and similar animals.
Tom was awakened by Uta's exclamation, and the entire cat finally roused to assess what had just happened.
But when Tom opened his eyes, he saw a cute little girl running toward him. She hugged him and began checking his body while asking worriedly:
"Kitty, are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?"
To be honest, Tom disliked being petted, so he immediately broke free from Uta's embrace.
Gustave, hearing the commotion, also rushed out of the kitchen and saw Tom escaping from Uta's arms.
"Uta, no—Tom is my friend, and he hates being petted most of all!" Gustave patted Uta's head, then shook his own apologetically.
Although petting Tom had felt wonderful, Uta still apologized to him. After all, a similar situation existed with Monster, the monkey from the Red Hair Pirates—though he was a monkey, he wasn't a pet but a partner.
Seeing this, Gustave couldn't help but sigh inwardly that Uta was much more obedient than Luffy. Luffy was extremely picky about food and wouldn't listen no matter what anyone said.
Then Gustave called Tom into the kitchen, and the two began preparing dishes for the Red Hair Pirates.