After a hearty meal in the evening, it was natural to move around and aid digestion, so the bonfire party began!
After gathering some firewood, the Red Hair Pirates built a fire on the shore and began singing and dancing around the flames.
How could Luffy, who loved any kind of fun, miss this opportunity? He forcibly dragged Ace over to join the Red Hair Pirates in their celebration.
Tom, who had originally planned to return and catch up on his sleep, abandoned that idea when he saw the festivities and rushed over to participate. Gustave suddenly realized he seemed to be the only one left in the restaurant. No, there was also Po.
So Gustave went upstairs to check on Po. After confirming Po was fine, he headed downstairs to join the bonfire party.
When he reached the first floor, Gustave noticed there weren't many customers at Makino's tavern, so he went over to invite her:
"Makino, there aren't many people left in your tavern. How about joining their bonfire party?"
Makino simply shook her head and replied with a smile:
"No, you all go have fun. I'll just watch the store."
Since Makino didn't want to go, Gustave didn't press her. He bid her goodbye and headed toward the bonfire.
When he reached the fire, Gustave found Tom dancing with Lucky Roux and Yasopp. Yasopp was managing well enough, but Gustave hadn't expected Lucky Roux's large body to move so gracefully. He truly was a remarkably flexible big man.
However, no matter how flexible the large man was, he couldn't compare to Tom. Tom's body twisted into various impossible configurations—sometimes contorting into a pretzel shape, sometimes bending his torso backward a full 180 degrees.
Witnessing Tom's flexible and utterly inhuman movements, Lucky Roux could only raise his hands in surrender.
Then it was Uta's turn.
The moment Uta stepped forward, the entire Red Hair Pirates crew immediately fell silent. Luffy, who was still being noisy, had his mouth covered by Yasopp and was dragged to the side.
Seeing everyone had quieted down, Uta began her performance. As soon as she opened her mouth, a beautiful voice reached everyone's ears.
Hearing the song, Tom produced a guitar from somewhere and began accompanying Uta. Her singing and Tom's guitar playing synchronized perfectly. Though it was their first collaboration, their harmony seemed like that of a group that had been performing together for decades.
After the song ended, everyone shouted Uta and Tom's names. To thank everyone for their support, the duo decided to perform another song.
Shanks, standing to the side, watched Uta and Tom with an almost maternal smile on his face.
"Tom and Uta really hit it off, didn't they?" Gustave approached Shanks and commented with a smile.
"Yes, Uta took to Tom immediately when she first saw him. I didn't expect they'd get along this well. It seems Uta will become even fonder of Tom in the future," Shanks responded with the same warm expression.
Suddenly, Shanks seemed to think of something and extended an invitation to Gustave:
"Since Uta and Tom get along so well, why don't you, Po, and Tom join us for adventures on the sea!"
Gustave hadn't expected Shanks to actually try recruiting all three of them, so he replied:
"I'm not interested in cooking for you on your ship for free."
"Besides, Po's master is Mr. Garp. If he discovered you'd kidnapped his apprentice, well... you can imagine the consequences!"
Shanks shuddered at the thought of being pursued by Garp in the future and said:
"Never mind, I don't want to be chased by Mr. Garp."
Gustave burst into laughter hearing this response.
The next day, Po finally awakened from his unconsciousness. As soon as he opened his eyes, he felt hungrier than ever before—so ravenous he felt dizzy.
So Po, in his extreme hunger, ran downstairs and consumed everything edible in the refrigerator. However, he still wasn't satisfied. At least he'd regained some strength though.
Po then ran to the kitchen and set more than ten pounds of noodles to boil. He took a large pot, added some lard and soy sauce, poured in boiling water, removed the cooked noodles and placed them in the broth. Finally, he added chopped scallions, creating a super-sized portion of plain noodles.
On the third floor, Gustave was awakened by a series of clattering sounds. He checked the time—just past five o'clock, which wasn't their usual exercise time.
Is there a burglar in the house? Gustave wondered.
Taking a stick, Gustave quietly followed the sounds to the first floor and found the kitchen light was on. He carefully approached the kitchen door and discovered a black and white figure crouched inside, slurping noodles.
"Po?" Gustave asked uncertainly.
Hearing the sound, Po turned around, holding a large pot in his arms. The pot was full of noodles, with a few stray strands still hanging from Po's mouth.
Seeing Gustave, Po smiled somewhat embarrassedly:
"Sorry for waking you. I was incredibly hungry when I woke up, so I had to come down and find something to eat."
"These are plain noodles I made. Would you like some?"
Gustave sighed in relief upon discovering it was just Po searching for food due to hunger. Then he said:
"No thanks, Po. If you're hungry, just eat. I'll have some milk."
After saying this, Gustave walked toward the refrigerator.
But as soon as he opened the refrigerator door, Gustave was shocked by what he saw inside. He remembered there should have been eight bottles of milk, twelve pounds of braised beef, five and a half pounds of large sausages, six pounds of bread, six pounds of tomatoes, and several heads of lettuce in the refrigerator. Now the refrigerator was completely empty.
"I'm sorry, I was really hungry, so I ate everything edible in the refrigerator..." Po's embarrassed voice came again.
"It's fine, Po. You didn't have dinner yesterday after all, so it's normal to be hungry when you wake up in the morning," Gustave could only express understanding. However, the refrigerator contents had been what Gustave had prepared the night before to make breakfast sandwiches. It seemed he'd have to change today's breakfast plans.
Having no choice, Gustave went outside to get a glass of water. Looking at the time, it was nearly six o'clock and the sky was already brightening. It was time to wake the others for exercise.
Gustave went back upstairs to wake Tom, Ace, and Luffy. Tom and Ace were manageable—though they couldn't open their eyes, their bodies had already automatically gotten out of bed.
When it came to Luffy, Gustave couldn't wake him no matter how much he called, because the boy had stayed up too late with the Red Hair Pirates the night before.
"Hey, Luffy, if you don't get up and exercise, you won't become a great hero!"
But Luffy still showed no reaction.
Gustave had no choice but to use his ultimate technique:
"Luffy, there's a great hero over there eating Braised beef shank!"
As expected, Luffy immediately opened his eyes and leaped from his bed:
"Where? Where's the Braised beef shank?"
Gustave bonked Luffy on the head and said:
"There's no beef shank! Now get up and exercise!"
Covering the large bump on his head, Luffy reluctantly got out of bed.
Finally, everyone in "Bamboo Staff Bistro" was awake!