So that's how we harvested all the seasonal ingredients.
Then Papa, Bonney, and the others joined up with us, bringing along various meats and such that weren't really tied to any particular season.
Papa grumbled something like, "Don't make the Supreme Advisor run delivery errands," looking a bit exasperated, but he seemed to have been looking forward to it all the same.
And then the barbecue began... man, it was so much fun.
Fun and delicious.
Meat, vegetables, seafood, heaps and heaps of it all sizzling on the barbecue grates. Leona and Bonney were practically drooling from the moment things started cooking, and the guests of honor, Iris and Snow, were leaning forward quite eagerly too, whether they realized it or not.
And everything lived up to expectations. Or rather, exceeded them. Every last thing.
Sea Beast and Sea Kings meat, plus various other wild game, all sliced up and grilled with gusto. Sometimes skewered and roasted, sometimes sliced thin like yakiniku, sometimes thrown on as whole chunks.
We grilled seafood too. I'd never really seen anyone grill Pacific saury at a barbecue before, but it looked delicious... no, it was definitely delicious, so no complaints. Yep.
Basically, we just threw everything on and grilled it, no questions asked. And everyone snatched things up the second they were done, no holding back.
It wasn't just meat and fish, either. We grilled vegetables too. Pumpkin, onions, bell peppers, mushrooms, corn... and more.
Being in-season produce, everything was so juicy and sweet and incredible.
Some of it technically wasn't a vegetable, but let's not worry about that.
And it wasn't only about grilling and eating. Alongside the main grill, some volunteer cooks with know-how whipped up additional dishes on the side.
Swapping the grate for a flat iron griddle to make yakisoba and okonomiyaki.
Ahijo made with generous amounts of vegetables and seafood, plus high-quality olive oil.
Grilled sweetfish and saury done over charcoal rather than on the grate.
A delicate style of cooking, different from the rustic boldness of the barbecue, producing a soft, gentle flavor that was exquisite in its own way.
And then, plain white rice was ready too.
Well, barbecue is great on its own, but it's also an excellent companion for rice... and since the rice Suzu grew was delicious, the pairing was bound to be superb.
Also, a side dish to go with the grilled meat (barbecue, technically): sesame-salt cabbage made with spring cabbage.
Such a simple dish, and yet every single time I wonder why it's so ridiculously good.
There was paella too, loaded with shrimp, octopus, and shellfish.
I was surprised myself, but apparently rice dishes like paella and fried rice are actually pretty common for outdoor cooking. Something about how they're quick to make once you've got the hang of it.
Seafood hot pot with monkfish, cold-water cod, salmon, and more. ...Hot pot? Hot pot at a barbecue?
Various tempura made by battering and deep-frying vegetables and seafood. ...At a barbecue?
And this was really something... there was bamboo shoot rice and chestnut rice.
Spring and autumn flavors showing up at the same time. When did anyone even have time to prep and cook those?
And if that wasn't enough... who made the summer vegetable curry? Seriously, when?
I mean, sure, at a hotel buffet or even at an all-you-can-eat place, sometimes you just see the curry and grab some because it looks good.
And yeah, I did grab some. And yeah, it was delicious.
Then for dessert, a fruit platter came out.
...And not just that. At some point, someone had made fruit tarts and various other simple cakes.
Honestly, I'd forgotten what a barbecue was even supposed to be. It was so lavish it would put a hotel buffet to shame, and we enjoyed every last bit of it.
With seasonal ingredients from spring, summer, autumn, and winter all mixed together, the spread felt pretty chaotic... but as I've said many times now, it was delicious and fun, so all good!
Honestly though, why are kids so adorable when they're stuffing their cheeks full and eating with such obvious delight? It's been a mystery ever since the days I was raising Suzu and the other two...
Also, food you gathered yourself just tastes better somehow, like there's some emotional bonus attached. I bet Suzu planned the harvesting experience with exactly that in mind.
A big group of people, chatting away, having a blast, eating delicious food... something so simple, and yet so incredibly fun.
Thinking about how this kind of ordinary happiness had been lost in Iris and Snow's era almost got me feeling sentimental, but you shouldn't bring that kind of gloomy mood to a meal.
I shook it off, and we all kept on having a wonderful, lively time together.
Grilling, eating, grilling, eating... we kept it going until the ingredients ran out, savoring the barbecue to our hearts' content, right down to the very last bite.
"Haah... that was so good...! I'm moved by how full I am..."
"I can't eat another bite... I've never eaten this much in my life..."
Snow and Iris both seemed to have truly enjoyed themselves, conversation and all. I was glad.
"The food was delicious and fun, but... personally, I really loved the ingredient-gathering part beforehand too... In the era we lived in, we'd never done or even seen anything like that."
"Yeah, that's true... It was a first for us, completely fresh, and... incredibly fun."
"Hearing ye say that makes me happy, as the one who planned it all... though this may be a bit difficult to ask, but... in the future world, large-scale farms and such... they no longer exist, do they?"
"If I remember right, the volcanic eruptions from the Grand Reboot contaminated the whole world with toxic gas and volcanic ash. The water, the soil, even the air, all of it."
"Yes, because of that, the oceans and farmlands were left in terrible shape... Every community struggled to secure food. Merveille was no exception."
"No matter what you planted, it wouldn't grow. Even when it did, the crops were small and thin, poor quality... There were almost no fish, and shellfish and seaweed were completely wiped out. Even when we managed to breed livestock, the feed, water, and air were so bad that most newborns didn't survive..."
I'd half expected it, or at least imagined it, but it sounds like it was a truly awful world...
A real dystopia.
Even from the little I'd heard before, I could tell it had been a terrible world... but hearing the details like this drove home just how devastating it was.
The current Merveille, which could honestly be called the height of an era of abundance, must seem like paradise to them.
Three proper meals a day, and then some. Being able to eat whatever you want, whenever you want. Just that alone held immense value for Snow and Iris.
"I do not wish to be crass, but it sounds like a veritable hell. In fact, it is remarkable that things held together for over a decade at all."
"Iris said something like that before too, didn't she? But yeah, hearing it again, I think the same thing... How did they manage to maintain communities of hundreds or even thousands of people?"
I'd been thinking the same thing.
The amount of food a single person needs daily to stay healthy is actually quite a lot.
Since the dawn of humanity, people have never truly conquered the enemy called "starvation." The slow creep of death from having nothing to eat is genuinely terrifying.
...I know that from personal experience. It was a long time ago now, about twenty years back, but... during those days adrift at sea, every single day was a desperate struggle just to survive till tomorrow, wondering if I'd even wake up the next morning...
No game to hunt, no crops that would grow... How they maintained a community in conditions like that was beyond me. Were they just incredibly good at managing and rationing their food supply?
"That was certainly part of it, but the biggest factor was... Powers."
"Powers... as in Devil Fruit?"
"Yes. There happened to be several Devil Fruit Ability Users in the community whose abilities were useful for that kind of situation. Thanks to them, we managed to get by."
"Devil Fruits that help when food is scarce, huh..."
"One of them was Aunt Suzu. Using the Mud-Mud Fruit's Powers, she tilled the land, revitalized depleted soil... and managed to make farming at least somewhat possible."
"But even if she could replenish the nutrients, she couldn't do anything about the contamination... so the farmland was never truly ideal. I mean, of course, even just that much was incredibly appreciated, and nobody had any complaints."
Right... Suzu was still alive, at least. Even if she was practically unable to fight anymore as a warrior.
But being stuck in a situation where she could only do things halfway like that... knowing Suzu's earnest personality, it probably caused her more stress than anything.
Even glancing over at the Suzu of this era, she was making a frustrated "mmm..." expression despite it not being strictly about herself.
"And besides Aunt Suzu... there were other Ability Users who helped secure food. ...By the time we were alive, though... there were only two left, including Aunt Suzu."
"Who was the other one?"
Snow told us about the "other one," but the name was unfamiliar to me.
Probably not someone any of us currently knew... likely a person who joined or merged with Merveille's community after the world fell apart.
And this person's ability was truly something else. It was the Cook-Cook Fruit, and it could turn objects into food or prepared dishes.
Apparently it could turn a rock on the ground into a rice ball, transform a wooden stick into sausages or ham, change sand into raw rice or flour. ...What an incredible ability...
And when Snow explained this, while everyone else in the group was reacting with "What the heck?", Papa alone seemed to react with a different kind of surprise.
But I found myself wondering something.
If such an ability existed...
"So that means... as long as you have 'something,' you can turn it into food and eat it, right? With a power like that, wouldn't starvation be a complete non-issue? ...And yet, there still wasn't enough to eat?"
Yes, exactly. That was what Alice said, and I'd been thinking the same thing.
Taken to the extreme, whether it was pebbles, dirt, or even seawater, it could all be turned into food, right? And yet there was still a food shortage?
Even if they couldn't grow things with farming... regardless of whether it was a dignified way to live, the Cook-Cook ability should have been able to produce unlimited food.
But before Snow and the others could answer...
"Bet it could make 'food' but couldn't make anything 'edible,' right?"
Papa cut in.
"Huh? What do you mean, Papa? 'Edible'... Do you know something about it?"
"That 'Cook-Cook Fruit'... I don't know about whoever has it in the future, but I know someone in this era with that ability. Name's Streusen. He's part of Linlin's crew... a member of the Big Mom Pirates, Executive Class."
"Executive Class of a Four Emperors crew...!?"
"He's been one of Linlin's subordinates since before... well, since before 'we' were still sailing under Rocks's flag. I've even heard he's known Linlin since she was a kid."
Big Mom is sixty-seven now, right? If he's known her since childhood... we could be talking sixty years or more? That's an incredibly senior figure.
Also, I'd actually heard that name before, when I went to the Tea Party. I'm pretty sure he was called the Head Chef.
For Big Mom, who put delicious sweets above all else, a cook, and not just any cook but the Head Chef, would naturally be an extremely important person.
So through that connection, Papa knew about the man and his ability, the Cook-Cook Fruit.
"Yeah. And I heard something about it once... ingredients made with the Cook-Cook Fruit don't taste very good. Apparently you can cook them into something passable, but they're not something you'd want to eat by choice... or so Linlin herself said."
"Ah, I see. But when people are desperate and starving with no other options, isn't it no time to be worrying about taste? Shouldn't they just be grateful they can eat anything at all and force it down... oh."
Alice trailed off, seemingly having realized something mid-sentence.
"Wait... could it be that it was technically 'food,' but for reasons beyond taste, it couldn't actually be 'eaten'?"
"Huh? What does that mean? Food that can't be eaten... like, it was expired or something?"
"It was more a matter of quality. It was food, yes. But... what was produced didn't necessarily meet a safe standard to eat. Like crops grown in poor conditions, you could eat them, but they'd make you sick, or the flavor was so awful it was painful to swallow..."
"I-it got that bad? At that point, can you even call it 'ingredients' anymore...?"
"...The cause was most likely insufficient Mastery on the part of the Ability User. As ye all know, Devil Fruit abilities grow stronger without limit when honed and refined... but conversely, neglecting that training means the power might be no better than a mass-produced weapon. It depends on the type of Fruit, of course..."
"And the Cook-Cook Fruit was that way?"
"If the ingredients that ability produces were garbage-tier quality, there's no way Linlin would've valued the guy so highly just because they go way back. And she wouldn't have summed it up as merely 'not very good.' At minimum, it had to be 'not tasty, but edible.' And if that's the case..."
"Then inevitably, the Ability User's level of expertise becomes the issue..."
"Or perhaps... it may be something else entirely, some innate talent of the Ability User themselves. This Streusen fellow seems to be a skilled cook as well... 'tis possible that one's culinary skill, and the depth of one's knowledge of ingredients, affects the quality of what is produced."
"Yeah, that's plausible. The Op-Op Fruit that Grandma and Law use has several applications that practically require the user to have medical skill and knowledge as a prerequisite..."
So that meant... the Cook-Cook Fruit user in Snow and Iris's future lacked that kind of Mastery, and as a result, couldn't produce anything truly "edible."
The obvious next thought was, well, then just improve the Mastery. But if it depended, as Suzu just suggested, on "culinary skill" and "knowledge of ingredients"... in that Desperate Future, there would be no way to cultivate those things. No room for that kind of luxury. ...A dead end.
But then Iris, seemingly deep in thought, spoke up.
"...I don't think that's all there is to it."
"Oh? What do you mean?"
"I think the reason that person couldn't make delicious food was... because they didn't know. They didn't know the taste of truly delicious food... or the happiness of eating it. Honestly, Snow and I... the taste of food this delicious, the joy of eating until we're full... we didn't experience any of that until we came to this era."
"...That's a plausible theory. Even if it's done through a Devil Fruit's ability, when you consider whether someone can create something they've never experienced at all..."
"Well, it's not that they couldn't, necessarily... but at the very least, the reverse is true. Knowing something, having a feel for it, is advantageous when it comes to 'producing' such things."
Not knowing delicious food, and therefore being unable to create delicious food.
Unable to find joy or hope in meals themselves... and so the food produced held neither joy nor hope.
I see... that was a very plausible explanation.
Power you can't master sometimes turns its Fangs on you.
A world situation that was practically the definition of dystopia may have caused the Mastery of an ability that should, by all rights, have never produced anything worse than "bland" to grow not just to zero, but into the negatives.
...What a cruel story.
"This might end up sounding kind of serious as a takeaway, but... what Aunt Suzu does, making delicious food and feeding people... bringing smiles to everyone's faces, giving them energy, I think that's incredibly important. Forget about abilities and all that... that kind of thing becomes the power people need to keep living. I'm sure of it."
Iris said that, her gaze fixed somewhere far away.
...That's the truth right there.
A moment of silence followed, earnest and... to put it a little unkindly, stiff and heavy.
But after a beat, Suzu cleared her throat with a deliberate "ahem."
"I appreciate the kind words, and if it made ye feel happy, then that pleases me as well. True... the conversation took a bit of a serious turn, as Iris said, but that too has its charm. In any case, what I do shan't change. 'Tis merely a hobby of mine, but... I shall continue making delicious food. If eating it brings a smile to ye lot, or even to complete strangers, then that is a job well done."
"Yeah, I think that's perfect for you, Suzu. It is important, sure, but you don't need to overthink things all the time."
"Yeah, yeah! Keep it up from here on out!"
Alice and Leona said with bright smiles.
Receiving their words, Suzu nodded with an even stronger, more resolute smile.
Watching this unfold, I couldn't help but smile too... and smiles bloomed on Iris's and Snow's faces as well.
Maybe they were thinking something like, 'How reassuring,' or, 'This world is going to be just fine.'
"Aye. So long as this remains my reason for living, I shall keep on creating more and more people who smile from the sheer 'deliciousness' of my cooking, so rest easy! ...Now then... for today, the feast has reached its peak, and I think we ought to call it here. Everyone, if I may have your attention."
Saying that, Suzu gathered everyone's focus like she was wrapping up a proper banquet. Ah, I see.
Right, you've got to observe at least this much etiquette.
Okay then, hands together... everyone, all together now.
"Thank you for the meal!"
To be continued...