In the South Blue, near the Calm Belt, lay a stretch of sea few people ever visited.
Under a clear blue sky, two naval warships sat anchored on the calm, glassy water.
On the decks, countless men and women were hard at work. Some scrubbed the planks, while others cleared away trash.
Alongside all that, the cries of babies echoed across the entire warship.
No one knew how much time had passed. By the time the sun hung high overhead, a pirate ship bearing the words "Kuja" on its sail appeared on the horizon.
When the people aboard the warships saw the pirate ship, they showed no fear. Instead, they looked relieved.
Before long, the pirate ship pulled alongside one of the warships. Wooden planks were laid between the two vessels, and one burly female warrior after another boarded the warship carrying baskets of supplies.
"Thank you so much!"
On the deck of the warship, the men watched the scene and spoke with heartfelt gratitude, though none of them stepped forward to help.
It was not that these men lacked manners. The Kuja warriors were simply no ordinary women. They did not believe that being women made them weaker than men, so they had no need for men's help. And because of Kuja customs, they would not allow men to board their pirate ship either.
Just then, the door to the warship's cabin opened, and a massive golden dinosaur-like creature appeared in everyone's sight. In a voice that sounded almost like a child's, it said,
"Everyone, the food's ready!"
"Oh!"
Only then did the men and women put down what they were doing and file into the cabin one after another.
Although this Marine warship was already quite large, its mess hall still could not hold so many people.
So only the women and children could eat in the mess hall, while the men carried their bowls out onto the deck.
For convenience, the men also slept on the other warship at night.
There was no helping it. There were simply too many pregnant women on this ship, and it was too inconvenient for the men to take care of them here.
...
The warship's galley was just as busy and lively at the moment.
As the head chef of the Sky Pirates, Flare had carried the heaviest responsibility over the past month.
Providing three meals a day for more than 8,000 people was not easy, especially when so many of them were pregnant women and infants. Their meals could not be treated carelessly.
Even with plenty of people helping in the galley, Flare could only steal a little time to rest while everyone else was eating.
Fortunately, she had completed the task without letting anyone down.
"Phew..."
When the last massive iron barrel of food, nearly as tall as an adult, was finally ready, Flare wiped the sweat from her forehead beneath her white chef's hat and said to the many kitchen helpers,
"Well then, I'll leave the rest to you!"
"No... no... Miss Flare, you're the one who's worked the hardest..."
Flare had chosen these helpers from among the people on the ship. There were both men and women, nearly a hundred of them in total, each with clearly assigned duties. Only then had they barely managed to keep everyone fed three meals a day.
Because of that, these people understood better than anyone how hard Flare had been working. Their admiration and gratitude for her came from the heart.
They could all cook, and many of them were quite skilled, but cooking for one family and cooking for 8,000 people were entirely different things.
In terms of quantity alone, every pot Flare made had to contain enough food for a hundred people. Only that way could they efficiently prepare meals for 8,000 people before it was time to eat. The weight of that food was more than even a grown man could handle, let alone a woman.
Without the help of her Devil Fruit ability, Flare would never have been able to keep up.
"Miss Flare, leave the rest to us. Please go get some rest."
"You've worked so hard!"
"Thank you so much!"
"Mm-hmm!"
Under everyone's grateful gazes, Flare nodded, then left the galley and returned to her cabin. She took off her clothes and stepped into the bathroom.
Amid the patter of running water, Flare washed the smell of grease and smoke from her body.
But as she washed, her movements suddenly stilled. She stared at herself in the mirror, lost in confusion, then whispered,
"What did I become a pirate for?"
It was not that she hated being a pirate. She had simply realized that she was starting to change.
As mentioned before, preparing three meals a day for more than 8,000 people was truly exhausting.
So exhausting that even she, who had once dreamed of creating the most delicious cuisine in the world, had begun making food her former self would never have acknowledged.
To the Flare of the past, that would have been completely unacceptable.
She had boarded Yemu's pirate ship to prove that her father was wrong. Yet now, she was becoming more and more like him.
The admiration and gratitude in everyone's eyes told her that this change was not necessarily a bad thing, but she still found it hard to accept the person she was now becoming.
Just then, a knock at the door pulled her out of her daze.
"Flare, are you in your room?"
Flare recognized the owner of that voice at once.
"Sister Rouge, I'm here. Please wait a moment. I'll open the door right away."
Flare quickly dried herself off, wrapped her graceful body in a bath towel, and stepped out of the bathroom.
When she opened the door, she saw Rouge standing outside with a gentle expression, holding a sleeping child in her arms.
Seeing Flare still damp from the shower, Rouge said apologetically,
"Were you taking a bath? I didn't disturb you, did I?"
"It's fine... it's fine. I'm already done. Please come in, Sister Rouge! I'll go change first!"
"Mm. Sorry for bothering you."
Before long, Flare came back out in a fresh set of clothes.
Perhaps because she had just bathed, her mood seemed much better. She looked at Rouge sitting in the chair with the baby in her arms, her eyes full of curiosity.
"Children really are amazing. They're so ugly when they're first born, but they just get cuter and cuter."
Seeing Flare's curious gaze, Rouge smiled gently and said,
"How about it? Do you want to try holding him?"
"Can I!?"
"Of course."
So Flare took the child from Rouge's arms. But the moment he was in her embrace, as if sensing that the person holding him was no longer his mother, the little boy opened his eyes and began wailing.
Flare immediately panicked. Seeing this, Rouge hurried over to coax and comfort him.
Only when the little boy saw his mother did he finally stop crying and break into an adorable smile.
Seeing that, Flare said in amazement,
"Little Ace really is a good boy. He stopped crying as soon as he saw Sister Rouge... Oh, right, Sister Rouge, did you need something from me?"
Rouge teased her child with one finger while looking at Flare with concern.
"Nothing much. I just noticed you seemed a little unhappy lately, so I came to ask..."