Rumble! Rumble!...
The sky was covered in dark clouds, with lightning and thunder.
Amidst the howling wind, heavy rain poured down.
Sandersonia stood atop the mast, gazing into the distance, and shouted to the three people on the deck:
"Ahead, a large ocean current vortex is expected! Adjust the sail angle for a side wind course!
We cannot be sucked in, or the ship and we will be destroyed!…"
Amidst the storm, Marigold turned the rudder. Sephiroth and Hancock, each standing on one side of the mast, quickly released the ropes and adjusted their length.
Under the strong wind, the sail angle immediately shifted.
The rain, sharp as knives, struck their bodies, causing their temperature to drop rapidly, yet none of them hid in the cabin to avoid the rain.
In this situation, even a slight mistake could result in the destruction of the ship and loss of life. No one would dare to be lazy at this moment.
After sailing for a good distance, the temperature suddenly plummeted, and sleet began to fall from the sky, occasionally accompanied by a few hailstones.
Gradually, the rain lessened, and the wind slowed, but the sky became filled with heavy snow, as if they had entered the depths of winter. The ship, meanwhile, entered a stable sailing phase.
At this point, the four of them all breathed a sigh of relief.
"Achoo!"
Sephiroth suddenly sneezed. He couldn't help but touch his nose and mutter:
"Summer weather suddenly turned into winter…
The weather in the Grand Line is truly unpredictable!"
The storm had passed, and Sandersonia also jumped down from the mast. She smiled and said to the three:
"We have now entered a winter sea area. Besides the severe cold, the waves in this area are much smaller. We can rest for a while."
This ship had once housed nine slave traders.
Therefore, for the four of them, water, food, and warm clothing were all very sufficient.
They rummaged through the cabin for a while and quickly found thick cotton clothes.
Although the three girls were somewhat disgusted that the clothes had been worn by men, there was nothing they could do. For warmth, they could only obediently put on the clothes.
Among the three girls, Boa Hancock was probably the most resistant. She only draped a black fluffy cloak over herself and didn't even change out of her soaked clothes underneath.
At such a cold temperature, still wearing wet clothes, it's hard to imagine how she could endure it…
Sephiroth rummaged through the wardrobe in the crew's rest room, put on a blue cotton coat for his upper body and black cotton pants for his lower body, then walked into the kitchen to start preparing dinner for the day.
Boa Hancock stood leaning against the kitchen doorway with her arms crossed, her face full of surprise:
"Huh?!… Sephiroth, you can cook?"
Upon hearing this, the young man's action of peeling potatoes immediately paused. He looked up, surprised:
"Isn't cooking a basic skill in daily life?
Why do you look so surprised…"
"Ah! This… is… is that so? But I think cooking is so hard!
I often either burn things, or they're not cooked through, or I add too much salt… That's why Sandersonia and Marigold don't let me cook…
Even though I was quite interested in it."
"…"
Sephiroth glanced at this future Pirate Empress. He finally managed to suppress the urge to complain and said:
"Just practice more in the future…"
"By the way, aren't you going to change out of your wet clothes underneath?
You'll catch a cold like that, won't you?"
It was only then that he noticed the black long-haired girl in front of him was still wearing a soaked red short top and skirt under her fluffy cloak.
Boa Hancock blinked her big, beautiful eyes, her face full of curiosity:
"What does it feel like to catch a cold?
I've never had one since I was little…"
Sephiroth: "…"
The young man thought carefully. It seemed that the physical fitness of people in the One Piece World was indeed different from that of ordinary people he knew in his previous life…
Let's not even mention freaks like Whitebeard, who could still go berserk after losing half of his head.
Even weaklings like Usopp, who would suffer bone fractures and excessive blood loss at the drop of a hat in the early stages, could recover completely after some time without leaving any lasting issues…
Even some minor characters, after being slashed multiple times, with blood gushing out as if it were free, could ultimately survive and recover after a period of time, acting as if nothing had happened!
As a graduate of clinical medicine, Sephiroth found this completely unscientific!
Hmm!?… No! Different worlds may have different laws. Without research, I cannot draw conclusions so easily. I must be rigorous and scientific!
Under Sephiroth's busy hands, beef stew with potatoes, stir-fried pork with cabbage, braised fish fillets, and tomato and egg soup were successively placed on the dining table in the restaurant.
The enticing aroma emanating from the dishes made the three girls sit around the table, constantly swallowing saliva and staring with wide eyes.
When he brought out the last dish from the kitchen, braised pork, and announced, "Dinner is served!", the Boa Sisters could no longer restrain their desires and immediately picked up their chopsticks and began to eat heartily.
Hancock picked up a piece of fish, put it in her mouth, and while chewing, she groaned:
"Mmm! So delicious…"
The green-haired girl, Sandersonia, after tasting the stir-fried pork with cabbage and experiencing the perfect cooking temperature and flavor, couldn't help but exclaim:
"Sephiroth, are you a professional chef?
Your cooking skills are much better than the chef of our Kuja Pirates!
That guy just boils everything in a big pot every day, adding some salt and oil directly, and maybe a little spice at most… The taste makes me almost want to vomit!"
The young man first smiled, then shook his head and said:
"Thank you for the compliment!
However… I'm not a chef, but a Dr.!"
"A Dr. has such good cooking skills? It's simply incredible…"
Marigold picked up a piece of potato with her chopsticks and put it in her mouth. The melt-in-your-mouth texture, combined with the rich sauce and beef flavor, made her feel a bit intoxicated.
"Ah! That's a long story…"
A hint of nostalgia flashed across Sephiroth's face. He subconsciously reached into his pants pocket, wanting to light a cigarette.
When he found it empty, he remembered that the original owner of this body was a good boy who didn't smoke, which made him sigh with slight disappointment.
Actually, the initial reason he had such good cooking skills stemmed from a dissection class…
He still remembered the strong smell of decay and the cold body he touched through his rubber gloves…
After enduring the nausea and dissecting the body, he had no appetite for several days, especially when he saw meat, he felt an urge to vomit.
But…
Perhaps he was too hungry; the hunger helped him overcome the shadow in his heart.
At that time, having eaten very little for several consecutive days, he happened to pass by a roadside barbecue stand. He was drawn in by the smell of roasted meat in the air, completely forgetting about the dissection. He ate heartily at the barbecue stand.
Since then, he seemed to have developed a fixation on delicious food, becoming a foodie, from eating out to cooking himself.
Before he knew it, he had developed excellent cooking skills!
After dinner, as it was getting dark and snow was still falling from the sky.
This was the unpredictable Grand Line. For safety, Sandersonia decided not to sail further and chose to drop anchor.
The four of them discussed and decided to split into two groups of two, with each group taking turns to keep watch each night.
This way, everyone would have enough rest time, and they could also prevent any sudden changes at sea.
Tonight, Sephiroth and Hancock would keep watch…