"My stomach's so empty... I want meat."
"It feels like we haven't eaten anything for days."
"Are we going to starve?"
"What's going on with this sea area? There's not a single fish in sight now. Even the Sea Kings seem to have vanished. It's really strange."
"Luffy! The reason we're like this is all because of you!"
Luffy, Usopp, Chopper, Tom, and Zoro lay powerless on the ship's deck, basking in the setting sun.
The current food shortage on the ship started three days ago.
It was another bright, sunny morning. Nami and Vivi were looking at a map, confirming the ship's course. Everyone else on the ship was doing their own thing. Everything seemed very peaceful.
But on this simple, peaceful morning, one person was throwing a fit on deck first thing. That person was Sanji.
"Luffy! Don't speak! Just tell me everything you know!"
Sanji had gotten up in a good mood this morning to make breakfast for everyone. When he opened the refrigerator, he discovered an ideal situation had turned into a nightmare.
The refrigerator, packed full last night, was now at least two-thirds empty. Looking at the nearly barren fridge, Sanji knew someone must have snuck into the kitchen to steal food last night. And the prime suspect was Luffy.
Hence the scene of Sanji interrogating Luffy.
After discovering the food shortage, Sanji went to find Tom.
Initially, when Tom heard the news, he was quite depressed. He had helped Sanji prepare enough food for four days just yesterday morning, hoping to train properly in the coming days.
But the next day, Sanji came to tell him the food was gone again. Tom, who had planned to do a warm-up exercise before breakfast, had no choice but to go fishing.
What made Tom even more depressed was that he dragged his fishing line around the ship several times and couldn't catch a single fish. It was as if all the fish in the nearby sea area had vanished.
Tom carefully observed the surrounding sea surface and very seriously told Sanji that, based on his experience, there were no signs of fish activity in this area. In other words, asking him to catch some fish was almost impossible.
Hearing Tom's words, Sanji knew things were serious. He immediately went to settle accounts with Luffy, his face dark.
In fact, Luffy had sneaked into the kitchen to steal food last night. But being guilty made him a terrible liar. He didn't know how to cover it up. Even when Sanji confronted him, he couldn't look Sanji in the eye, just turned his head to the side, practically screaming that he was the thief.
Anyone who wasn't an idiot could tell that Luffy, with his head turned away and sweat pouring down his face, had indirectly confessed.
"Hey! Don't pretend to look away! Look at me properly!"
Sanji went up to Luffy, who was sitting on the deck, crouched down, grabbed Luffy's face, and said very sternly.
"Don't ask me! I really don't know what happened."
As Luffy sat on the deck, waving his hands and speaking to Sanji, cold sweat poured from his forehead, and his mouth twisted unnaturally to one side.
"Then let me ask you. To ensure we make it to Alabasta, I rationed food for everyone on the ship. So why did almost all of it disappear overnight?"
Sanji saw that while he was asking, Luffy not only tilted his head and twisted his mouth, but even his dark, beady eyes were darting around. He grabbed Luffy's chin with one hand, veins bulging on his arm in anger. "You're not suited to putting on this 'nothing's wrong' face!"
Seeing Luffy still resisting, stubbornly refusing to admit his crime, Sanji calmly stood up, put his hands in his trouser pockets, and said with feigned surprise to Luffy, "Hey, you've got something on your mouth."
"Really? Where? Did I wipe it off?"
The moment Luffy heard Sanji's words, he hurriedly covered his mouth, his eyes nearly popping out in shock.
"So it was you who stole the food!"
Having confirmed Luffy was the thief from last night, Sanji angrily kicked Luffy flying. Then, with a very helpless sigh, he turned to Nami, who wasn't far away, and said, "Nami-swan, as you can see, the large mousetrap isn't enough anymore. Buy me a fridge with a lock."
"You're right."
Nami, still holding the nautical chart, looked over at Usopp, Chopper, and Karoo sitting on the railing on the other side of the deck, all fishing with rods, their mouths chewing on something. She immediately understood these guys were accomplices in the food theft. Given the current situation, they couldn't afford to be careless at all. She couldn't help but say to Sanji, "I'll think about it. This is a matter of life and death."
Sanji noticed Nami's gaze. He also looked at Usopp and the others, remembering how Usopp, Chopper, and Karoo had very kindly offered to help fish earlier. Understanding dawned on him.
When Usopp, Chopper, and Karoo sensed Sanji walking toward them, they hurriedly swallowed the food they'd stolen from the kitchen, nearly choking themselves.
Usopp was still putting on an act, shouting, "Alright, brothers! For Sanji's sake, we must catch some food!"
"Is that so? You've all worked so hard."
Hearing Usopp's words, Sanji seemed to smile even more happily. He walked behind Usopp, who was sitting on the railing, slowly raised his hands, placed them on Usopp's and Karoo's heads, and then forcefully pushed them together. The unfortunate Chopper sitting in the middle was smashed between Usopp and Karoo's heads, his face swelling up on both sides.
"Really... can't let my guard down for a second."
After disciplining the food-stealing gang, Sanji, for once, complained.
In the past, while sailing, having Tom around meant even if they ate all the food in a day, it was fine. Tom could always catch fresh food, so Luffy stole food without restraint, and Usopp and the others developed bad habits too.
Since setting sail, Tom had never encountered a situation where he couldn't catch fish. He never imagined there could be sea areas completely devoid of fish. No matter how good he was at fishing, if there were no fish, what was the point?
Actually, yesterday morning when Tom was fishing, he vaguely felt it took longer than usual to catch anything, but he didn't pay it much mind. He never expected that after sailing for another day, there would be no fish in sight at all.
"Not a trace of fish... Is it because we're getting closer to Alabasta? Or is there something near Alabasta that marine life fears?"
Tom pondered this question briefly but came to no conclusion, so he stopped thinking about it and went back to his own business.
Although Sanji rationed the remaining food again, he couldn't ensure everyone on the ship ate their fill.
As the saying goes, "even the cleverest housewife can't cook a meal without rice." No matter how good Sanji's cooking skills were, without enough ingredients, he couldn't solve the crew's hunger problem.
Thus, for the first time since entering the Grand Line, the Straw Hat crew experienced life on the high seas with meals few and far between. Their days were like those of refugees—utterly miserable.
Especially the ringleader, Luffy. Used to eating gluttonously, the food Sanji rationed to him now wasn't even enough for one bite. And after this meal, there might not be another. He had no choice but to adopt a strategy: steal food from others.
Therefore, these past few days, every mealtime, everyone on the ship was solemn, their eyes sharp, as if facing a great enemy, afraid their food would be swallowed by the long-armed Luffy in an unguarded moment.
Poor Miss Goldenweek, after having her meals stolen by Luffy twice in a row, finally couldn't take it anymore. She painted Luffy a picture of a delicious-looking giant meat pie. Luffy squatted and stared at her painted meat pie for half the day, drooling non-stop, but he became much more well-behaved and stopped stealing food from others.
Is this the so-called "drawing a cake to satisfy hunger"?
Seeing Luffy squatting to the side, eyes glued to the pie Miss Goldenweek painted, looking like he wanted to eat it but couldn't bear to, Tom thought this to himself.
No matter how hard life was on the ship for the Straw Hat crew, as time passed, they drew closer and closer to Alabasta.
According to Nami, they estimated they could land in Alabasta today. She told everyone to cheer up—once they reached Alabasta, they could eat their fill.
Luffy and Usopp sat on the railing fishing, listless, their stomachs occasionally growling.
"My stomach's too empty. I can't catch any fish."
Luffy rubbed his growling stomach and asked Tom, "Is there really no way to catch fish?"
"I've said it many times. There are no signs of fish activity nearby. Maybe Sea Kings are still possible, but if the Sea Kings stay deep underwater and don't come out, there's nothing we can do."
Tom, on the other side, thinking about how to further develop his Devil Fruit ability, answered offhandedly.
"Luffy, when you get down to it, it's all your fault."
Usopp said to Luffy sitting next to him.
"Didn't you have a part in stealing the food too?"
Luffy retorted.
"I'm not talking about that. I'm saying it's your fault for eating all the bait! Without bait, even if we wanted to fish for Sea Kings, we couldn't."
Usopp spoke the truth. After starving for days, Luffy couldn't take it anymore and secretly ate every last bit of the fishing bait. Usopp happened to witness this.
"You ate some too."
Luffy bluntly exposed Usopp.
"No way! I only ate the stuff stuck to the bait bucket lid!"
Usopp vehemently denied Luffy's words.
"Pfft—!!"
Tom, who was drinking tea brewed by Miss Goldenweek, accidentally spat out the fragrant tea upon hearing Usopp and Luffy's conversation, spraying it all over the little girl's face opposite him, who stared at him dumbfounded.
Usopp... the stuff you ate is what I usually use to feed the bait...
Tom glanced at Usopp's back, eyes full of sympathy. He thought for a moment but ultimately didn't voice this cruel truth.
"Luffy, Usopp!"
Vivi walked over to Luffy and the others with light steps. Perhaps because they were about to reach Alabasta, even though the past few days had been tough, her mood seemed quite good.
But soon Vivi couldn't smile anymore. She heard Karoo's desperate quacking coming from the sea ahead. She hurriedly pushed aside Luffy and Usopp sitting on the railing and saw Karoo tightly bound by fishing line, dangling over the sea surface, scared almost to tears, quacking in panic. Not expecting Karoo to be used as bait, she cried out in shock, "No!!!"
"With this, we can lure up a Sea King, right?"
"Definitely! Didn't Tom say Sea Kings are basically carnivores?"
Luffy and Usopp saw nothing wrong with using Karoo as bait to attract Sea Kings and were still talking heartlessly.
"What have you done to Karoo?!"
Vivi couldn't take it anymore. With a livid face, she grabbed Luffy and Usopp's heads and smashed them together.
Just as Vivi was about to rescue Karoo, she saw thick, greenish-white smoke rising from the sea ahead, blocking their view. Seeing an abnormality on their course, Vivi had no time to deal with anything else and hurried to find Nami.
Nami, who was drawing nautical charts in the cabin, was called out by Vivi. She looked at the spot ahead where thick smoke continuously rose from the sea and said with a smile, "Don't worry, it's fine. It's just water vapor."
Vivi had been a bit tense, but seeing Nami's relaxed expression, her taut nerves relaxed slightly. She asked, "Water vapor?"
"Yes, that's a hot spot."
Nami's words confused Luffy. "What? Isn't that cotton candy?"
"How could cotton candy fly out from under the sea?"
Tom looked at Luffy with pity, truly unable to understand why Luffy saw the steam rising from the sea as cotton candy.
"That's actually a place where magma is generated, because..."
Nami explained to the others on the ship.
"Oh, caused by an undersea volcano eruption."
Tom looked at the still-smoking sea surface to the south. The smoke was so thick it was impossible to see anything clearly in that direction.
"Yeah, there are more undersea volcanoes than land volcanoes. So smoke rising from the sea can be considered a relatively common phenomenon."
Nami's words amazed Chopper. "I never knew there were volcanoes in the sea!"
"Whatever. It's not edible anyway."
After hearing Nami's explanation, Luffy immediately lost interest in those things.
"In a few thousand, even tens of thousands of years, a new island will form there."
Seeing Tom and the others still looked a bit puzzled, Nami added one more explanation.
"You're so amazing, Nami-swan~!"
Sanji started his lovesick act again, his eyes turning into hearts, his body limp like noodles, swaying non-stop.
"Tens of thousands of years... can I live that long?"
"You'll be long dead by then. As a human, I mean."
"If we could live tens of thousands of years, what would happen?"
"Then I'd still be the Pirate King!"
"I'd be the bravest man in the world!"
"As for me... I'd probably live a different life than now."
Luffy, Usopp, and Tom looked at the smoking sea ahead and started chatting idly.
"Did you catch anything?"
Sanji's words quickly pulled Luffy and the others back to reality.
"Sanji, my stomach's so empty. Make us something to eat."
Luffy, truly unable to bear the hunger, said to Sanji.
Hearing Luffy's words, Sanji went to the storeroom to look for food. Maybe he could find something there.
As the ship was about to pass through the rolling thick smoke, Tom took Miss Goldenweek back into the cabin because he was somewhat interested in the little girl's ability to give strong psychological suggestions through different colored paintings. He had nothing else to do anyway.
The thick smoke was very choking, making Luffy and the others cough incessantly. It also carried a heavy sulfur smell, making it unpleasant.
Although their surroundings were filled with thick, vision-obscuring mist, Nami said everyone should just endure it; they'd pass through soon.
No one noticed that as the Going Merry passed through the thick mist, another ship approached from the opposite side.
When the Merry emerged from the mist, Luffy and Usopp discovered a very strange person clinging to Karoo, who was still dangling over the sea as bait.
Then Luffy and Usopp, still holding fishing rods, looked at the person tightly hugging Karoo—a man with bright red lipstick, pink rouge on his cheeks, green eyeshadow, and wearing a gorgeous swan-feather coat, dressed like a ballet dancer. Their jaws dropped in shock as they exclaimed, "We caught a transvestite!"
"Aaaaah! This humble one actually clung to a duck that brushed past! Run away!"
The transvestite, who looked like a ballet dancer, shouted this as he fell from Karoo into the sea.
Not long after, the transvestite man, fished out by Zoro, solemnly bowed to Luffy and the others. "To think this humble one was saved by unknown pirates. This humble one will never forget your great kindness in this lifetime."
After thanking them, the flamboyantly dressed transvestite man shamelessly said to Luffy and the others, "Might this humble one trouble you for a bowl of hot soup?"
"There's no soup for you! We're starving too!"
Luffy, Zoro, Usopp, and Tom answered in unison.
While Vivi was watching the transvestite's show, the man noticed her gaze and gave her a very coquettish wink. "You're so cute! Just this humble one's type~"
"Ugh, what a weirdo."
Vivi was clearly disgusted by the transvestite man's flirtatious wink.
After chatting happily with the transvestite man for a while, Luffy and the others learned he was a Devil Fruit user.
Seeing Luffy and the others were curious about his ability, the transvestite man generously offered to demonstrate it for them, which delighted Luffy and the others.
But before performing, the transvestite man suddenly slapped Luffy square in the face. "Watch closely! This is my ability!"
Seeing the man slap Luffy flying, Zoro and the others' expressions changed dramatically and were about to attack when they noticed the transvestite man had transformed into Luffy's appearance, even his voice identical to Luffy's. "Wait a minute! Don't be impulsive! This humble one already said this is an entertainment performance for you~"
The transvestite's instant transformation into Luffy shocked Zoro and the others. Luffy, seeing another person exactly like himself, was also startled.
"With a touch of my left hand, my face can return to its original appearance. This is the ability I gained from my Clone-Clone Fruit."
As the transvestite man said this, he touched his face with his left hand. Then, under everyone's astonished gazes, he transformed from Luffy back into his original flamboyant, transvestite appearance.
When this man imitated someone, not only their voice but even their physique and appearance became identical. If not for the difference in clothing, it would be truly hard to tell who was the real one.
"So amazing!"
After witnessing the transvestite's Devil Fruit ability, Luffy's eyes nearly popped out.
"Actually, I didn't need to slap anyone earlier. No matter who it is, as long as I touch their face, I can transform into their appearance."
As the transvestite man said this, having just touched the faces of Zoro and the others, he began imitating them. "Watch this With just a touch of the right hand"
"What are you all doing? Why so noisy?"
Tom, hearing the commotion, came out of the cabin. Then he saw the transvestite man, who had taken Zoro's appearance. Seeing "Zoro" dressed like a ballet dancer, wearing ballet shoes, spinning on one foot, the beautiful swan-feather coat twirling with him, the elegant and lively dance moves just like a real ballet dancer... only, the leg hair exposed from "Zoro's" outfit nearly blinded Tom.
Seeing the always-manly Zoro like this, Tom's jaw dropped. "Zoro! How did you become a transvestite?!"
"What nonsense are you spouting! I'm right here!"
Zoro, dark lines on his forehead, said to Tom.
"What's going on?"
Tom followed the voice and saw the seemingly normal Zoro looking at him with a dark face. He couldn't help but ask, "Zoro... do you have a transvestite twin brother?"
Seeing Tom dig himself deeper, Zoro couldn't take it anymore and quickly explained the current situation to him.
"He's great, right?"
Luffy asked Tom happily.
"Isn't it just changing faces? I've seen these tricks before. No need to get so excited, right?"
Tom had seen Sichuan opera face-changing before. Although the transvestite man's imitation of Zoro was quite good, he hadn't heard the man speak yet and thought he could only change faces.
"It's different! Right, transvestite?"
Luffy asked the transvestite man, who still maintained Zoro's appearance.
"Indeed. Since he says so, this humble one must let him witness the power of a transvestite."
As the transvestite man said this, he leaped up to Tom, who was on the upper deck. "This humble one will let you see clearly!"
"Go for it, transvestite! Show him your power!"
Luffy and the others below on the main deck were already egging him on, cheering for the transvestite man.
"This humble one can become anyone~"
The transvestite man, still in Zoro's form, said this while standing in front of Tom and began transforming again. "See? This humble one's..."
"Could you not say such girly things with Zoro's face?"
Tom, looking at the transvestite man in front of him with Zoro's appearance, really couldn't take it.
"Then this humble one will become another appearance~"
As the transvestite man said this, he touched his face with his right hand, transforming into Chopper's and then Usopp's appearance, making Luffy and the others excited, shouting non-stop, "Keep changing, transvestite!"
"See? This humble one can become anyone, imitating their physique and appearance exactly~"
The transvestite man in front of Tom suddenly transformed into Nami's appearance, even his tone becoming identical to Nami's. This truly shocked Tom.
"Put some clothes on!"
Vivi, standing beside Tom, saw the man next to her staring with eyes about to fall out. Her fair face instantly flushed bright red. She urgently said to the transvestite man who had become Nami.
"So? Now do you know the power of this humble one's Clone-Clone Fruit?"
The transvestite man was about to give Tom an even more stimulating display when Nami, who had dashed over like the wind, her face flushed with embarrassment, punched the man imitating her into instant defeat. "Stop performing for him!"
Luffy and the others below deck didn't know what the transvestite man had shown Tom to make Nami so angry. But before they could ask, an extremely piercing scream rang out on the ship.
"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH—MAN!"
It turned out that after knocking out the transvestite man, Nami grabbed Tom by the collar, quietly asked him what he had seen, then wiped her slightly warm nose, and also quietly replied to Nami, "Didn't see much. It's just... yours seemed different from usual."
Nami initially didn't understand what Tom meant by "different from usual." But noticing the guy's eyes darting toward her body as he spoke, she suddenly remembered an embarrassing incident with this man long ago. How could she not understand what he meant? Her pretty face immediately darkened, and she without hesitation raised her fist.
Bam! Thud! Clang! Smash! Crash! Clunk!
Vivi, watching Tom get beaten beyond recognition by Nami in an instant, wanted to say something to Nami but now found herself utterly speechless...
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T/N :
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