The rain outside the Baratie had stopped, but the sea breeze still carried a damp chill.
Inside the restaurant, the last stack of empty plates had already been cleared away.
Ace and the Spade Pirates had left first.
They came and went like a storm, noisy from beginning to end, and once their ship disappeared into the darkening horizon, the sea around the Baratie finally returned to something close to peace.
At the long dining table near the outer deck, Zaraki leaned back in his chair and exhaled slowly.
The hunger gnawing at his stomach had finally eased.
Across from him, Zoro dropped the last picked-clean bone back onto the plate and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
"Not bad," he muttered.
Nami, who had eaten much more elegantly than the two of them, set down her utensils and let out a small breath.
Carina sat beside her, lazily swirling the last bit of wine in her glass with a thoughtful look in her eyes.
The sunset painted the sea red.
For a rare moment, no one spoke.
Then Zeff limped over, one hand behind his back, and gave the table a glance.
"You brats eat like sea kings," he said flatly. "If you stayed here another week, I'd go bankrupt."
Zaraki didn't even open his eyes. "Then charge it to the old man."
Zeff's eyebrow twitched. "You really do say shameless things with a straight face."
At that moment, footsteps came from behind.
Sanji had changed into a clean black suit again. His blond hair still covered one eye, and there was a cigarette between his fingers, though he wasn't smoking it.
He stopped a few steps away from the table, hands in his pockets, and looked at the group in silence.
No one urged him to speak.
After a few seconds, Sanji clicked his tongue.
"I'm coming with you."
The words came out suddenly enough that even Nami blinked.
Carina, however, only raised her brow with interest.
Zoro gave Sanji a sidelong glance.
"Who asked you?"
Sanji immediately turned toward him with a dark expression. "Shut it, moss-head. No one was talking to you."
"Want to die, curly-brow?"
"You're the one asking for it."
The air between the two of them crackled instantly.
Zaraki rested his chin on one hand and watched the two begin barking at each other with a bored look.
Then he shifted his gaze to Sanji.
"You want in on my ship?"
Sanji stopped glaring at Zoro and looked back at him.
"Yeah."
"Why?"
Sanji was quiet for a moment.
The sea breeze swept through the open deck, stirring the hem of his suit.
"At first?" He laughed once through his nose. "Because staying here is getting more and more annoying."
"Oi!" Zeff barked from behind him.
Sanji ignored him and continued.
"But more than that..." His visible eye lifted slightly, and for once there wasn't any flirtation or nonsense in it.
"I want to find the All Blue."
Those words made the deck grow quieter. Even Zeff's expression paused for half a second.
Sanji kept his hands in his pockets, but his voice had become steadier.
"This floating restaurant is safe. Too safe. If I stay here forever, I'll keep cooking the same sea, the same fish, the same dishes, and I'll die without ever seeing what's beyond it."
He glanced once toward the horizon.
"I'm a cook. But I'm not just some cook who wants to stand behind a stove for the rest of my life."
Then his eyes shifted toward Nami and Carina for the briefest moment before returning to Zaraki.
"And if I'm boarding a ship, I'd rather board one that's actually going somewhere."
Zoro snorted. "Sounds like you just want to chase women and freeload."
Sanji's forehead twitched. "Say that again, swords-for-brains."
Nami pinched the bridge of her nose. "Why do I feel like the ship is going to get noisier every time we stop somewhere..."
Carina chuckled into her glass.
Zaraki didn't answer right away.
He looked Sanji up and down once, like he was evaluating cargo.
"You can cook."
Sanji frowned. "That's your first thought?"
"You can fight too," Zaraki added casually. "Not strong enough yet, but you got good legs."
Sanji's eye narrowed slightly.
Then Zaraki leaned forward a little, the lazy look in his face fading just enough to make the pressure around him heavier.
"But I don't carry dead weight."
The words landed flatly.
"No passengers, no mascots and no useless idiots."
His gaze locked onto Sanji.
"If you board my ship, then you cook when it's time to cook, fight when it's time to fight and if enemies come, you don't get to hide in the kitchen."
Sanji met his eyes without flinching. "Fine."
Zaraki's mouth curved faintly.
"Also, if the food tastes bad, I'll throw you overboard."
Sanji's eye twitched violently. "Try it and I'll poison your dinner."
Zoro barked a laugh.
Nami looked tired already.
Carina looked entertained.
Then, from behind Sanji, Zeff suddenly raised his peg leg and drove it straight into the back of Sanji's head.
Thud.
Sanji nearly ate the deck.
"You damned old geezer!"
"Get on his ship and get out of my sight already," Zeff snapped, though his voice was rougher than usual.
"You've been stomping around this restaurant for years acting like the sea owes you something. If you want to chase some idiotic dream, go do it properly instead of rotting here."
Sanji froze.
The curse that had been on the tip of his tongue stopped there.
Zeff folded his arms and looked away.
"And if you die before finding it," he muttered, "don't bother coming back and embarrassing me."
For the first time since he had walked over, Sanji said nothing at all.
The cigarette between his fingers had gone crooked.
The sunset glow stretched across the deck, making the old chef's expression hard to read.
After a while, Sanji straightened slowly.
"Tch," he said, trying and failing to sound normal. "Who asked for your permission?"
Zeff snorted. "Who said I was giving permission? I'm kicking out a useless eggplant."
Nami looked between the two of them and quietly exhaled.
Carina's smile softened just a fraction.
Zoro turned away with a click of his tongue, but he didn't interrupt.
Sanji was still facing away from everyone when he asked, "Where are we going next?"
This time it was Nami who answered.
"Loguetown."
All eyes turned to her.
She tapped the table once with a finger.
"It's the last major stop before Reverse Mountain, and the easiest place nearby to resupply properly. Food, medicine, clothing, rope, spare sailcloth, weapon maintenance—everything."
Then she added, with the practical tone of a real navigator.
Carina nodded. "And a city that big is perfect for restocking ammunition and picking up useful odds and ends."
Zoro rested one elbow on the table. "And swords."
"You're not buying swords," Nami said immediately.
"Tch."
Zaraki stood up.
"That settles it."
His coat shifted over his shoulders as he looked toward the darkening sea.
"We eat, we leave—next stop, Loguetown."
Sanji stared at his back for a second.
Then he took one last look at Zeff, the old man still wasn't facing him.
In the end, Sanji only grinned crookedly, tucked both hands into his pockets, and said, "Try not to go bankrupt before I get back, old man."
Zeff raised one hand without turning around.
"Get lost you brat."
...
That night, under the Baratie's lights, a small ship left the floating restaurant with one more crew member than before.
At the stern, Nami adjusted the heading by starlight.
Carina counted supplies with quick, practiced hands.
Zoro lay against a coil of rope and pretended not to be awake.
Sanji stood by the rail with a cigarette between his fingers, watching the Baratie grow smaller and smaller behind them.
Zaraki stood at the bow, coat flapping in the night wind, eyes half-lidded.
No one said much.
But from that night on, the ship had a cook.