Chapter 184
"Royal Family Secret Recipe my ass?!"
This was clearly the focaccia recipe developed specifically and sold by Sanji! It was a recipe he remembered from the recipe books he used to make food for his mom. That degenerate Marine Captain was too shameless!
Not only did he buy the recipe from them, but he straight up slapped on the label "Goa Kingdom Royal Family Secret Recipe."
And he had the nerve to write that the Hero of the Marines, a Marine Admiral, and a Shichibukai had all eaten it?! Wasn’t that just fraud?
He had never seen such a shameless person.
The recipe was already delicious enough, there was no need to deceive customers like this. Such practices were an insult to the culinary arts!
Hearing the vendor’s words, Sanji pulled the cigarette from his lips with a annoyed look. He deliberately stepped away from the stall before flicking the ash. Just as he was about to say something,
"Hey, one for me!"
A lazy voice called out from nearby.
"Oh, it’s you!" The vendor looked at the figure beside him and grinned. "The usual?"
"The usual!" Kuzan yawned, nodded with his worn bag on his back, and drawled, "Your focaccia is still the best around."
"Of course!" The vendor puffed up with pride and pointed at the banner nearby. "This comes from the Goa Kingdom Royal Family Secret Recipe afterall."
This vendor could really say such deceptive things with a straight face!
"Goa Kingdom Royal Family Secret Recipe?" Sanji raised an eyebrow, putting his cigarette back in his mouth unable to hold it in anymore. He spoke flatly, "I don’t know if the Goa Kingdom even makes them, but putting that aside, Hey, what you wrote on that banner is way too exaggerated! Why would big shots like that come to a small island like this for focaccia?"
He paused, removing his cigarette to flick the ash again. "The recipe is delicious enough on its own. Even without deceiving people, it would definitely attract customers! Hey, you should take down that banner."
"What did you say, kid?" The vendor’s face soured as he handed the focaccia to Kuzan. He glared at Sanji. "Are you here just to cause trouble? If you’re not buying, leave. How am I deceiving anyone?"
"This is all deception!" Sanji frowned at the vendor’s denial. "You don’t actually think anyone would believe such an obvious lie, do you? If you don’t believe me, ask this customer here."
He turned to Kuzan, who had just taken the focaccia. "Do you believe it? No, wait, people on this island probably don’t even know what a Hero of the Marines, Marine Admiral, or Shichibukai are, so maybe you have no idea either!"
However.
Kuzan, eating his focaccia, raised an eyebrow at Sanji but said nothing.
Sanji fell silent, then a dark line formed on his forehead. "You’re not actually believing this, are you?"
"Maybe it’s true?" Kuzan shrugged and drawled. "The Hero of the Marines, a Marine Admiral, and a Shichibukai really did come eat here."
"That sounds fake no matter how you look at it!" Sanji retorted in exasperation. "I really didn’t think anyone would actually believe it!"
Before the furious vendor or Kuzan could say anything else, another cheerful voice rang out nearby.
"Smells so good!"
Then a figure wearing a straw hat appeared.
"I want some too!"
But that wasn’t all.
"Luffy, wait up! And Zoro, you’re going the wrong way! I told you to follow us. Oh my god. Maybe I shouldn’t have come along."
Another voice, sounding on the verge of a breakdown, followed.
"Do you have any idea how troublesome your sense of direction is? Don’t go disappearing again."
"Who has bad sense of direction?!" Zoro snapped from behind. "I was just interested in that other stall!"
Moments later.
Three figures appeared beside the stall.
"Stop making excuses!" The man with short blonde hair and a sharp, protruding chin said helplessly, then looked at the stall with curiosity. "Goa Kingdom Royal Family Secret Recipe? Does the Goa Kingdom even have focaccia like this?"
"Does it, Helmeppo?"
"Shouldn’t I be the one asking you that?" Helmeppo looked at Luffy in exasperation. "Why are you asking me?"
"I don’t know either!" Luffy scratched his head with a silly grin. "I’ve never been inside the royal palace. But this smells so good! I want to eat!"
"If you want to eat, buy it yourself!"
"I didn’t bring money! I left all my money with Makino."
’You did that on purpose!’
Helmeppo stared at him, irritated. "At the banquet a few days ago, you guys not only ate all my bonus but made me pay extra. And now you want me to pay for your food too?"
Did he know how much it hurt to see that bill? But he sighed, pulled out his hard-earned wages, and looked at the vendor. "Two, please!"
"Aren’t you getting any?" Zoro leaned over toward Helmeppo. "Thanks!"
"I... you didn’t bring money either?"
"I’m planning to swap out two swords. These two are too dull for cutting wood. I’ll pay you back next time."
"Forget it." Helmeppo sighed again at Zoro’s words. "Make that three! With meat!"
"You got it!"
As the vendor took the new order and ignored Sanji, who was still trying to expose him, he continued preparing focaccia.
"I told you, even without deceiving people," Sanji flicked his cigarette ash and looked at the vendor, "this recipe would still be popular!"
"Who says I’m deceiving anyone!" The vendor stiffened his neck. "A Marine Captain told me that. How could a Marine Captain deceive anyone?"
"That degenerate Marine Captain?"
"Degenerate Marine Captain?!" the three chimed in simultaneously.
They looked at Sanji.
"Captain is not degenerate! Get out of here, kid!" The vendor waved his hand angrily. "I’m not doing business with you! Go, go, go, leave now!"
"Hey, hey, hey-"
Moments later.
Sanji stood to the side, having been chased away, frowning silently as he smoked.
He wasn’t really angry at the vendor.
After all, from what the vendor had said earlier, it seemed he had been deceived by that degenerate Marine Captain.
Thinking of this, Sanji’s tone grew heavy as he muttered, "Degenerate Marine Captain, Dante."
"Dante?"
A slightly surprised voice spoke up.
"Huh? Zoro, you know that Dante guy?"
"It’s Dante! The Marine Captain from the 16th Branch." Helmeppo seemed to recall something, his tone complicated. "He’s also the one who sent my father to prison!"
"So," Luffy frowned, "that guy is a bad person?"
"...That guy isn’t exactly a good person." Zoro paused. "But he’s not a bad person either!"
"I don’t know either." Helmeppo fell silent. "But my father definitely wasn’t a good person!"
He paused and managed a wry smile. "Maybe I used to be a bad person too!"
"Hey, hey, hey!" Sanji looked at the three of them eating and talking among themselves. "Why did you all follow me? And you..." He turned to Kuzan, who had also come over. "Why are you here too?"
"Thought it was interesting, so I came to watch." Kuzan drawled, then looked at Zoro. "You know that degenerate Marine Captain."
"I am not close to him, if that is what you’re asking. But he isn’t a bad guy." Zoro waved his hand impatiently.
"A guy who toys with female pirates isn’t a bad guy?" Sanji scoffed, looking at the frowning Zoro. "You can’t judge a book by its cover!"
Luffy asked in confusion,"Toys with female pirates? What does that mean?"
"What do you mean? It’s... never mind, Luffy, you don’t need to know." Helmeppo grimaced, then frowned.
Sanji froze, taking an angry drag from his cigarette.
"That’s just so envi... so despicable!"
"...No, I still think that guy wouldn’t do something like that." Zoro fell silent, shook his head, and frowned. "Maybe there’s some misunderstanding. If he was really playing around..."
Just as Kuzan was happily eating and watching these kids argue.
Another loud voice called out, "Boss Kuzan, you’re here too! Oh, and Luffy, how are you here as well?"
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