Chapter 80: You're Fired!

Outside the room.

Sanji leaned against the doorway, head lowered so his expression couldn't be seen; only the cigarette in his mouth kept burning, sending up thin wisps of white smoke.

He had heard every word Gao Wen and the others said inside, and the corner of his mouth curved up without his realizing it.

For a moment.

Sanji couldn't help feeling a little regret at having refused Gao Wen's invitation just now.

"Allblue isn't in the East Blue, you know!"

Sanji muttered, then thought of Zeff, who had lost a leg, and casually stubbed out the cigarette butt in his mouth and tossed it into the trash can.

He turned and went down.

……

Tap!

Tap!

Tap!

Amid the crisp footsteps, Sanji slowly descended the stairs.

But he saw that the chefs and waiters of the sea restaurant Baratie had all gathered in the hall, their faces cold as they looked at him.

"What?!"

The only answer Sanji got was the crowd's increasingly cold stares.

Just as he felt uneasy and was about to ask what was going on, Zeff pushed through the people on either side, walked up to Sanji, crossed his arms over his chest, and said coldly:

"Brat, as of today, you're fired!"

"Go wherever you want!"

"But on this ship, there's no place for you anymore!"

Sanji froze, then roared angrily:

"Stinky old man!"

"What kind of joke is this?!"

"I'm the… on this ship…"

As he spoke, Sanji's gaze swept around the crowd, and he saw that every face wore the same coldness as Zeff's.

"Everyone…"

……

"Get lost! Stinky brat!"

"Nobody on this ship wants you to stay at all!"

"Go!"

"Go wherever you want to go!"

From the crowd came one angry shout after another.

Patty and Carne rolled up their sleeves, walked up to Sanji, and with one punch laid him flat on the ground, saying viciously at the same time:

"This restaurant has no place for you as of today!"

With that.

The two hoisted Sanji up, threw him onto the deck, and without waiting for him to react, slammed the restaurant's big door shut.

Bang!

Accompanied by the sound of a door closing.

Sanji looked around in a daze.

All that met his eyes was the boundless sea and a bright moon in the sky.

On this vast ocean, where can I possibly go?

As this thought struck him, Sanji froze for a beat, then turned his head and saw a pirate flag fluttering in the wind.

In an instant.

Sanji understood why Zeff had fired him, and why the chefs on the ship had been so cold to him.

"You think I'll thank you for this!"

"Damn you!"

……

Through the restaurant window.

Zeff watched Sanji on the deck, took a puff of the pipe in his mouth with a click, and muttered:

"These old bones of mine don't want you to sacrifice your own dream."

The crowd watched Sanji wailing outside the window, and a look of reluctance appeared in every pair of eyes; but they knew even better that a man with a dream of his own shouldn't be tied down here.

He should go to a wider world, to seek the legendary Allblue.

Patty and Carne beside them even fell into each other's arms, weeping.

"Curly-brows, even though he's violent, and ignores the ship's rules by feeding those penniless guys…"

"Damn it!"

"And to think I'm such a coward too!"

The next instant.

Two burly men whose combined weight was nearly four hundred jin clung tightly to each other, their tears flying; the sight made Zeff beside them twitch the corner of his mouth and instinctively step back two paces, afraid of getting splashed.

"Although it's a few years earlier than I expected, that man is undoubtedly strong and reliable."

"Only by following him will you get to see a wider world!"

Zeff muttered to himself.

Yet at that moment, a familiar voice came from beside his ear:

"Ah la, ah la~"

"What a touching scene we've witnessed!"

Gao Wen, a faint smile playing on his lips, walked down slowly from the upper floor with Xiang Keluo and the others, while Zoro, still unconscious, was carried on a stretcher by two pirates following behind the group.

Zeff glanced at him and said coolly:

"You can see it too, can't you? That brat is just stubborn with his mouth; his heart has long been on your ship."

"Take him away."

"Out of sight, out of mind."

Having said that,

Zeff simply clasped his hands behind his back, pushed through the crowd, and walked out.

Pudding and Carne looked at Gao Wen, their eyes filled with obvious fear, yet they still summoned their courage and said fiercely:

"That fellow may have a terrible personality, but he is, after all, a man who walked out of this ship."

"If you dare harm him, I will die before I tear a piece of flesh from your body!"

Gao Wen said coolly:

"Ah."

"That fellow is the crew member I want!"

"Rest assured!"

Seeing this, the two finally breathed a sigh of relief.

The people gathered in the restaurant gradually dispersed, and under Pudding's guidance, Gao Wen found the Mink brothers and the rest of the crew locked in the storage room.

Seeing Gao Wen unharmed, the two finally put down their hanging hearts, followed immediately by the joy of having survived a disaster.

"Captain~"

Gao Wen watched the two fat cats rushing toward him, his lip twitched, and he immediately reached out to pin them down.

"Wait!"

"You two need to lose weight!"

The two froze, looked at their gradually swelling bellies, awkwardly scratched their heads, and chuckled sheepishly:

"Hehe~"

Gao Wen helplessly shook his head, then had someone remove the chains from the other pirates' feet and left with them.

……

On the deck.

Sanji saw the door open, thinking Zeff and the others had changed their minds, and was about to speak when he discovered it was Gao Wen who had come out.

"How is it?"

"Little guy, if this place won't keep you, it seems your only remaining option is my ship."

Gao Wen said coolly and casually threw a detection at Sanji, confirming without doubt that he possessed Golden-level potential, causing his mouth to water instantly.

"What kind of joke is this!"

Sanji gritted his teeth and refused without a second thought:

"I am the chef on this ship!"

"I..."

Gao Wen placed one hand on Sanji's shoulder and pointed with the other at Nami nearby:

"That is the navigator on our ship, you..."

"Captain, from today on I am the ship's chef; please take care of me."

Before the voice had even settled,

Sanji had already rushed to Nami's side, nostrils flared, eyes sparkling with hearts, looking like a complete pervert.

He grabbed Nami's hand, puckered his lips as if to kiss her, but his peripheral vision caught a palm growing larger and larger...

Slap!

After a crisp, clean sound, Sanji spun in mid-air three and a half times and landed headfirst, a visible lump rising on the top of his head.

"Are you a pervert?!"

Nami's forehead veins jumped as she grabbed Sanji by the foot and dragged him onto the ship.

The deck fell silent for a moment.

On the faces of the pirates, a look of terror appeared, as if they were meeting Nami for the first time.

"So terrifying!"

"Big Sister Nami!"

……

In the cabin.

Zeff, watching the scene on the deck through the porthole, rolled his eyes, feeling that his earlier worries had been entirely unnecessary.

"You really deserve to die!"

Pudding and Carne ground their teeth, and everyone in the restaurant wore expressions of complete speechlessness.

Gao Wen's lip twitched slightly, then he led everyone up to the deck.

Quickly,

two whistle blasts echoed from the pirate ship.

When the wind sails are raised.

Calmed down, Sanji stood at the stern, looking back at the gradually shrinking sea restaurant Baratie, silently lighting a cigarette for himself.

(End of this chapter)