On the Going Merry.
Zoro and Sanji nearly had the bitterness beaten out of them.
But after exchanging a glance...
"Hey, shitty cook, is that all you've got?" Zoro forced a smile onto his face.
"Heh, a third-rate idiot swordsman like you discussing 'level' with a first-class chef like me?"
Sanji looked disdainful, his trembling hand extending a finger towards Luffy.
"Luffy, ten more punches."
"And I thought you were something special. Luffy, eleven more punches!"
"Twenty!"
"Twenty-one!"
"..."
After it was over, Zoro and Sanji lay on the deck as if their souls had left their bodies, their eyes rolled back.
Luffy, on the contrary, looked thoroughly refreshed.
Training was a tedious thing. Since he couldn't resist, the method he thought of was to make this tedious thing interesting!
In the world of pirates, weakness was a sin.
Sanji and Zoro both clearly had the makings of combatants. In that case, they might as well enjoy the thrill of battle together.
[Physical energy has been compressed and trained through exercise. Your body's durability has increased. Armament Haki Proficiency +1]
[Physical energy has been compressed and trained through exercise. Your body's durability has increased...]
[Mental energy severely depleted. Your willpower has increased. Observation Haki Proficiency +1]
From 6:00 AM after setting sail until 12:00 noon was training time with Zoro. He couldn't be too far from Zoro; it was a fixed condition, just like when Nami left before, causing Luffy to nearly blow a gasket.
Training with Zoro was still relatively fixed, summarized as various physical exercises. Visibly, the Armament Haki proficiency was increasing.
Luffy glanced at his status panel.
[Armament Haki lv1 — Proficiency 25/10000]
[Observation Haki lv0 — Proficiency 70/100]
[Drawing Skill lv1 — Proficiency 1/200]
[Navigation lv0 — 85/100]
[Swordsmanship lv0 — 35/100]
[Medical Knowledge lv0 — 82/100]
[Passive Talents: Quick Movement, Rapid Recovery, Photographic Memory, Hardening]
"Both are skills, but the proficiency required for the next level of Haki is so much higher than for ordinary skills?"
This was somewhat understandable. After all, how useful Haki was, Zoro and Sanji, who had just been pummeled, could attest best.
If it weren't for the bonus time, Armament Haki wouldn't have reached Lv1 so quickly.
This made him look forward to the effects of Observation Haki even more.
That man called Hawk-Eyes was clearly a Haki master, making even his blade turn so black.
What level would his Haki be?
Lv4? Lv5?
If his Haki reserves reached that level, his entire body could probably turn jet black.
"Sanji, food, food!"
Luffy was urging him on. He didn't have that much time for eating; he really wished this Pirate King Plan would consider practical circumstances.
If Sanji was still lying there like a corpse, how long would it take to make food?
He only had one minute to eat!
[Prompt: Detected no lunch provision. Self-sufficiency permitted. Please proceed to the galley in one minute to learn cooking knowledge from Sanji. Time: 12:00 – 13:00... Countdown: fifty-nine, fifty-eight...]
"Hah, just you wait. I'll let you taste my skills."
Sanji lit a cigarette and stood up.
They had been feasting for the past few days, so he hadn't had a chance to show off his cooking.
As soon as Sanji stood up, he found Luffy standing before him with a face that looked like it had been drained dry by a succubus.
"L-let's go together."
"I can't let a guy like you into the kitchen! That's a chef's lifeline!" Sanji resisted vehemently.
He had already gathered plenty of intel from Usopp and Zoro.
The most important point was: never, ever let Luffy into the kitchen.
After the Going Merry set sail, Luffy had managed to devour half a month's worth of food stores in a single day.
"Sanji, teach me how to be a chef," Luffy said.
If I have a chef, why do I need to learn myself? What do I need a chef for then?
Luffy could only comfort himself that in the future, he could cook for himself.
Taste was one thing; as long as it was edible, it was fine.
Sanji's eyes widened. Are you even listening to yourself?
Looking back, he saw Zoro and the others wore expressions of serene calm.
They were somewhat immune and used to it by now.
Clearly, Luffy had already done too many unexpected things.
Zoro felt this deeply. For someone to surpass his own zeal for training... he could only say Luffy had definitely changed in some aspects.
After all, even Zoro sometimes wanted to have a little drink and sleep like a log.
And Luffy wasn't just training mindlessly either; he could even go study with Nami!
He was improving in all aspects.
If people who knew the old Luffy saw this, they'd probably say it was haunted.
Anyway, the threshold for what Nami and the others expected Luffy to do was constantly rising.
Nami held a book in her hands, her gaze unconsciously following Luffy's figure.
No... shouldn't he be coming to find me?
Judging by Luffy's schedule over the past few days, after lunch, he would always study navigation with Nami.
Nami knew Luffy definitely wasn't just acting on a whim or putting on an act.
Luffy could devour in one night the amount of books it took Nami a month to get through.
That said, Luffy wasn't even at a beginner's level in navigation. Nami wasn't boasting; in this field, she was a master-level figure.
She was more than qualified to be Luffy's teacher, right?
Nami was waiting for Luffy to come find her, but then...
Sanji?
Her eyes instantly took on a different quality.
Usopp looked back and noticed that look, shuddering involuntarily and silently mourning for Sanji for a second.
...
In the galley.
The sound of sizzling could be heard.
Sanji had taken Luffy's claim about wanting to learn cooking as just an excuse to steal food.
But Luffy actually looked serious about it.
Since that was the case, Sanji didn't hold back.
"Sanji, it's this difficult?"
Knife skills, wok tossing, controlling oil temperature, timing ingredient additions, mastering heat, then thickening the sauce, plating...
These most basic things made Luffy's head spin.
"You're actually doing pretty well."
In Sanji's preconceived notions of Luffy, Luffy and this kind of thing were completely incompatible.
But for a chef, they actually liked diners like Luffy; he could eat every last bit of the food you made.
That was the scene a chef most wanted to see.
Although Luffy was clumsy, someone who studied seriously wouldn't gain nothing.
"I... I want to go read books."
Luffy looked at the fried rice in front of him, finding it hard to believe this was food made by a human.
"It's actually not bad."
Sanji took a spoonful and ate it, his expression unchanged. "For a beginner, this is considered good. But Luffy, are you interested in cooking?"
"Ah, how should I put it... a little, I guess, hahaha." Luffy showed a somewhat strained smile.
What could he say? It was a passive interest, you could say.
Luffy didn't know why becoming the Pirate King required learning all sorts of knowledge, even cooking.
Could it be that a Pirate King might end up stranded on a deserted island and starve to death because he couldn't cook for himself?
"That's actually a possibility..." Luffy suddenly fell silent.
***
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