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"Huh? Who's that old man?"
When he heard Zeff's voice, Satori looked up, a puzzled expression on his face.
"He wouldn't be..."
Nami scrutinized Zeff's appearance, a guess forming in her mind.
Could this person be the owner of the Baratie, the Sea Restaurant?
"You old geezer, what do you mean you don't need me?" Sanji asked, biting on his cigarette, clearly annoyed.
"I'm the Sous-chef here!"
"So what if you're the Sous-chef? There are plenty of guys like you. After you leave, someone can easily replace you," Zeff said, not mincing his words.
He had already appeared when Sanji was fawning over Nami with a lovesick expression, and he had heard their entire conversation.
When he saw that Satori and Nami didn't mock Sanji's dream at all, and even more eagerly invited him to join them, he knew that Sanji, who had stayed here for many years without the opportunity to go to the Grand Line, now had an unprecedented chance.
To him, Sanji was like his own son. Of course, he was reluctant to see him leave.
But what he didn't want to see even more was Sanji spending his entire life by his side, running the Baratie with him, unable to pursue his own dreams, unable to live out his own splendor in the most vibrant years of his life.
That's why he was so impolite at this moment, even trying to drive him away by belittling him.
"What good are you here? You fawn over every woman you see, and your cooking is incredibly terrible. You're completely dispensable."
"Since that's the case, you might as well join them, save yourself from being an eyesore here."
Sanji clenched his fists, veins throbbing on his forehead from anger.
"You old geezer! Don't you dare push your luck!"
"Say whatever else you want, but you are absolutely not allowed to belittle my cooking!"
"You listen to me, I'll be a chef here no matter what, and I'll never leave!"
He finished, gritting his teeth, and stormed off, ready to go upstairs to 'battle Zeff for three hundred rounds'.
But before he had taken a few steps, he heard Satori's clear voice from behind him: "Um, Sanji, is your cooking really that bad?"
Sanji spun around instantly, only to see Satori looking at him with an innocent, simple expression, while Nami desperately covered Satori's mouth, forcing a awkward smile.
Suddenly, his impending rage was caught in his throat.
After freezing in place for two seconds, he quickly walked back, picked up the menu from the table, scanned the checked items, and asked: "Is this what you're ordering?"
Nami nodded: "Yes, the steak, we'll have ten..."
She glanced at Satori, and finally corrected herself:
"No, make it fifty portions."
"Fifty portions? Are you sure?" Sanji was stunned, asking with some uncertainty.
"That's right, fifty portions. Don't let Satori's child-like body fool you, he can eat a lot."
"I understand."
Sanji nodded, closed the menu, and turned to leave.
"You two wait, I'll let you personally experience the level of my cooking."
As a chef, a chef who was extremely proud of his cooking, he would never allow anyone to doubt his culinary skills!
After watching him leave, Nami breathed a sigh of relief, then punched Satori hard on the head.
"Satori! You know asking that kind of question just now was really offensive, don't you!"
Satori covered his head and retorted: "But I didn't say it, the old man did."
"How do you know what he said was true? Besides, even if what he said was true, you shouldn't ask it like that," Nami said, speechless.
At the same time, she thought to herself: Sanji, as the Sous-chef, shouldn't be someone with bad cooking skills.
If that's the case, why would that old man say Sanji's cooking was bad?
Could it be that... A faint guess formed in her mind, and she looked up, but found that Zeff was nowhere to be seen...
After the two waited bored for a while, Sanji came over pushing a dining cart, placing plates of steak on their table.
"Your steaks are ready."
Satori's eyes lit up, and drool instantly flowed down.
"Wow! It looks delicious!"
With that, he didn't care that the steak needed to be cut into small pieces and savored slowly. He just grabbed a whole piece and stuffed it into his mouth.
Less than two seconds later, he gulped it down.
"So, so delicious!" He looked at Sanji, giving him a very high rating, then showed a puzzled expression.
"Your food is so delicious, why did that old man say it was bad?"
Sanji was momentarily stunned by Satori's exaggerated eating, and upon hearing Satori's question, he came back to his senses, lit a cigarette, and said expressionlessly: "Who knows what that old geezer is thinking."
Nami had also cut off a small piece and was chewing it slowly.
Soon, like Satori, she showed a pleased expression.
"In my opinion, your cooking is almost the best I've ever seen."
Hearing the beauty's compliment, Sanji immediately lost his composure, his eyes turning into hearts as he leaned towards Nami, clasping his hands together, and excitedly said: "Miss Nami's praise, like a sweet spring, nourished my parched soul! I am truly so happy!"
Nami: I shouldn't have said that...
Satori quickly devoured many steaks, gulping them down, and while eating, he mumbled indistinctly: "Sanji, your food is so delicious, can you really not join us?"
He was now increasingly eager for Sanji to join them. Just thinking about being able to eat Sanji's delicious food anytime, anywhere while sailing on the sea made him incredibly happy.
Hearing this, Sanji quickly returned to normal, took a drag from his cigarette, and slowly exhaled smoke: "No, I won't leave here."
"There are still some things you ordered that I haven't made yet. I'll go make them first. You two take your time eating."
With that, he left.
Satori watched his departing back, looking somewhat troubled at Nami: "Nami, why do you think he won't agree?"
"Maybe he has some reason he needs to stick to," Nami said, shrugging.
From the looks of it, they probably wouldn't be able to recruit a third companion.
Next, the two stopped talking and began to enjoy the continuously arriving delicacies.
And Satori's astonishing eating speed and appetite gradually attracted the attention of the surrounding diners.
"It's terrifying, how much has that child eaten? Christine, you must never be like him in the future, understand?"
A noblewoman covered her mouth, then earnestly educated her child, thinking that her child absolutely must not be so gluttonous, otherwise, how embarrassing it would be.
"Hmph, like a starving ghost. I really don't know what kind of family could raise such a child."
A noble, whose every gesture exuded elegance, frowned, finding Satori's eating habits utterly disgusting...
The unfriendly murmurs gradually increased, but Satori completely ignored them, focusing solely on enjoying his food.
But Nami couldn't stand it. She slammed her knife and fork down, looked around, and with her hands on her hips, began to scold: "What are you looking at! What are you arguing about! Haven't you ever seen someone eat before! Eating a meal makes you feel superior!"
"Hmph! What a vulgar woman."
"Forget it, forget it, let's ignore them. We'll eat our own food."
After Nami's scolding, these people finally withdrew their gazes and stopped paying attention to Satori and Nami.
Nami angrily cut a piece of steak and said to Satori: "Satori, aren't you angry that those people are talking about you like that?"
Satori looked up, blinking: "No, why should I be angry?"
Looking at his carefree demeanor, Nami smiled helplessly: "Sigh, you're right, getting angry with these people is really unnecessary. If only I could be as carefree as you."
Just then, a woman sitting by the window inadvertently glanced outside, screamed in terror, her face turning pale.
"Pirates! Pirates are here!!"