32 Gourmet Island

(Two Days Later)

"So, what do you think about my proposition?" Rex asks Tiger.

"It is… intriguing." Tiger admits.

Over the past two days, the Sun Pirates and King Pirates had decided to sail together, at least to the next island. Due to the attack of the Marines, the Sun Pirates' ship, the Solar Wind, had been badly damaged and needed repairs.

Rex had offered his full services, allowing the Sun Pirates to use his reserve lumber and materials to make repairs. In exchange, the Sun Pirates' chef, Hatchan, had been treating the crew to his food.

What's more is that, out of boredom more than anything else, some of the Arlong pirates had begun practicing their Fishman Karate katas. While Rex himself would never dare steal them out of respect, the Monkey Bros had watched the Fishmen practice and had picked some of it up. Then, Tiger had decided to teach them a bit more since he found the Blugori to be a lot like fishmen.

Still, all good things seemingly had to come to an end. With Kid helping them, the Sun Pirates would be soon be done their repairs and ready to leave now, but Rex had just offered Tiger a deal.

As long as Tiger sailed with Rex for the next few days, Rex would escort him to Momoiro Island. There, Tiger could meet up with the Revolutionary Army and get their assistance if he so desired.

"Still, I do not like the idea of subordinating myself to a human. Not again…" Tiger says.

Rex had already revealed that he knew of Tiger's slave past and held no contempt in him over it. That truth had bound the two together on a deeper level, which helped with the crew relations.

"Dragon is… unique. Besides, I'm not saying you have to join the Revolutionaries. I'm sure if you so desired, Dragon would just give you a hidden base of operations where you could continue your anti-slavery efforts."

Tiger scratches his chin. "I'll at least meet the man." He finally decided, before rising to inform in his crew of the matter.

As he reaches the door, Tiger pauses for a moment. "You're a good human." He says, before leaving to go back to the Solar Wind.

Rex smiles, feeling that from a man like Tiger, a man so stuck in his anti-human ways that he was willing to die, those words were the highest compliment.

"What is the next island?" Rex asks Hawkins, curious as to what adventures awaited him next.

"It is Pucci, a small island known by the common tongue as Gourmet Town." Hawkins says, withdrawing a small map of the island. "It has another name however… the point of no-return. After Pucci, there is a non-stop chain of perilous islands the likes of which few sailors are fated return from."

Rex scrunches his brow. He had indeed noted that the Fool's Gambit had not obtained its name lightly.

Several islands along the way spelled death for most who ventured to them and the few peaceful islands in the middle had fierce defense forces in order to maintain that peace.

"We'll don that anorak once its arrived. For now, when do we arrive in Pucci?"

"We should be able to see it shortly." Hawkins says, withdrawing a spyglass and gazing out into the sea.

"Good."

Meanwhile, Tiger had explained Rex's proposition to his crew.

"To work with the Revolutionary army…" Jinbe mutters, unsure of what to make of such a proposal. "I can see the benefits, but wouldn't we be giving up our dignity?"

"Exactly!" Arlong shouts. "We should kill all of those puny human bastards starting with that Vesta Rex! If the humans fear us enough, we won't need to operate from the shadows. We should just kill them a-"

"Quiet!" Tiger said, upset with Arlong's constant nagging to kill humans, almost like a devil on his shoulder. "Even if we wanted to, we are far from strong enough to stand against the World Government alone. One Vice Admiral could defeat most of our Sun Pirates, an admiral would wipe us out in a single attack. We are too weak."

Jinbe and Aladine frown at this, but cannot muster any words of protest. As evidenced by the last fight, their ship was frailer than marine vessels and their combat strength was barely above a Rear Admiral's personal crew. If a Vice Admiral appeared, they would truly be defeated.

"I agree with you, boss, we should hear out the revolutionaries." Aladine said after much thinking. It was hard to imagine being a human's subordinate, but he believed that it was the best way to spread the message of the Sun pirates.

Jinbe also nodded, clenching his fists in anger at the thought of being too weak to protect himself. "I also believe we should listen to them. That is, until we are strong enough to take the helm of our own destinies.

As for Arlong…

"No! I refuse!" Arlong shouted. "You losers can kiss the feet of the humans for all I want, but I am a fishman, I was born to dominate humans. If I'm too weak for the Grand Line, I'll work my way up, but mark my words, one day the whole world will know my name!"

Arlong then left the Sun Pirates officer meeting room, slamming the door behind him. A few people left with him, muttering unhappily about working with humans. However, unlike in canon, Fisher Tiger was still alive dissuading most of the more neutral fishman from leaving.

"Very well, let's dock at Pucci and enjoy an adventure with our new friends." Tiger said, hoping that this relationship might be the start of Otohime's dream.

Meanwhile, Rex had descended from Pucci with his three premiere food-testers, namely Bonney, Kid and Sugar.

"Is it true!?" Kid says with hearts in his eyes. "Can we really find a true top-tier chef on this island!?" The hearts turn into chicken legs.

"It has to be true. If the captain dared blaspheme us on such a matter… hehe, there would be a mutiny on his hands." Bonney said with an evil glare.

"Well, this chef better be able to cook grapes!" Sugar cried out.

"Sugar-chan, I don't think you can coo-" Rex starts.

"They. Better. Be. Able. To. Cook. Grapes!" Sugar says, looking at Rex with a menacing juvenile rage.

"They will." Rex said ruffling his hand through Sugar's hair with a smile.

"Hmmph!"

After that, the trio go from restaurant to restaurant in Gourmet Town, but find that the food standard is surprisingly inept.

"Ugh! This garbage passes for Gourmet." Rex complained, finding this food quality to be barely above what was already served on his ship. "Even Hatchan's food is better than this."

Kid and Bonney emphatically agree, throwing down the pasta with scorn. In the past few days, as a symbol of comradery, the crews had been eating on each other's ships and Hatchan's Takoyaki was truly legendary. Now, all other food tasted lame in comparison.

"Hey, chef-san, why is it that this gourmet island has such sub-par food!?" Bonney cried out angrily. "We came here for some fine cuisine not this stuff!"

The chef looks at Bonney with an odd expression. "Well, isn't it obvious? The Gamsey Games is tomorrow."

"Gamsey Games?" The four said in confusion.

"You lot must be new in town." The chef said with a knowing look. "The Gamsey Games are a huge event here on Pucci where top chefs from all around the world compete for the title of Top Chef of the sea! It was started by the founder of Pucci, Geoise-Star Chef Rordan Gamsey!"

"Rordan Gamsey?" Rex says with an odd tone, recalling a famous blonde chef from his old life. Wasn't that just an inversion of…

"CAPTAIN!" Bonney and Kid looked at Rex menacingly.

"How can you not know of the great Rordan Gamsey?" Bonney shouts.

"Such a poor frog in a well." Kid says, shaking his head. "Rordan Gamsey is a legend, a saint of cookery. I have dreamed of eating his food since I first heard his name…"

Rex looks at his two usually stern crewmates fanboying over some chef and shakes his head.

"I don't suppose you know this Rordan Gamsey, eh Sugar?"

"No, can he cook grapes?"

Rex puts on a wry smile. "So, where are these Gamsey Games being held?"

The chef beams at this, explaining the games in great detail. Apparently, they would last one full day and the chefs would have to cook the eight great meals of the day.

"Eight meals!?" Kid and Bonney shout their eyes widening. They then look at Rex with scorn for only having five meals a day.

"Yup, the eight meals of Gamsey." The chef explains. "There's breakfast, second breakfast, elevenses, luncheon, afternoon tea, dinner, supper and desert!"

Rex could swear that the drool streaming out of Kid and Bonney's mouths could drown a horse at this point.

The chef continues, explaining how the contest would start with around 300 top chefs and each round, the consumers would vote on their dishes and a score would be tallied up. The bottom half would then be eliminated for the next round.

As for the overall winner, that would be decided by tallying up the score of however many candidates made it to the end.

"Such a rigorous grading system." Rex frowns. Even fights weren't this meticulous.

"Of course, it is!"

"How else could you crown the chef king!?"

Rex shrugs at Bonney and Kid's fanaticism. Still, he was intrigued. A good chef could improve the nutrition of the crew, increasing strength considerably.

"We should check them out." Rex decides, curious as to who would make an appearance at the games.

The chef implied that contestants would come to this contest from all four Blues and, occasionally, the New World. Rex was curious if any of the famous chefs of the one piece world would make an appearance.

While Sanji was a bit young to be a contestant, other notable chefs should be able to make the trip.

"A cooking contest?" Tiger asks incredulously hearing Rex's suggestion. "And you want Hatchan to enter?"

Apparently, to watch the contest, you either had to have booked a ticket well in advance or be one of four guests of a Chef who was in the contest. Rex was unable to meet the former condition, so he had to turn to Tiger for the latter.

"Why can't you just have your own chef enter the contest for you?"

Rex shakes his head. "This contest is extremely exclusive. In order to get in, you have to cook a dish and get approval from a board of veteran chefs. My cook could never pass that test."

"And you think Hatchan would?" Tiger asks incredulously. "His cooking is superb, but I doubt any human taste-testers would give him a fair chance."

"You never know unless you try."

Tiger scratches his chin pensively at this idea before agreeing begrudgingly. As for the four seats, most of the Sun Pirates did not want to go to the contest, with only Tiger and Jinbe opting to go. Rex uses this to tag along with Bonney, as he had a special mission for Kid.

"But I really want to eat!" Kid complained, being told of his special mission.

"I need you to do this for me Kid." Rex said seriously.

Kid looked at Rex's serious expression and sighed. While his stomach might protest, he knew Rex's plan must be important.

"What do you need?"

(The Next Day)

"Welcome, one and all to the annual, Gamsey GAMES!!!" A large, chubby blonde woman announced, her voice evoking great reactions from the audience. "As always, I am your host, mistress Rordan Child, descendant of his deliciousness, Rordan Gamsey!"

Rex looked at the crowd scrutinizingly. The venue was a large restaurant with a massive cooking platform at the center. Rex could count over three hundred work stations there, each with ingredients and equipment there.

Fortunately, Hatchan had wound up winning the last Wild Card spot in his cooking audition last night, so Rex had been able to watch the contest.

Rex was actually quite surprised at how understanding the Gamsey Games organizers were. When they heard Hatchan came from a crew of fishmen, they seemed to welcome him with open arms.

That was good for Rex, as otherwise, he might have had to use other, more unscrupulous means to access the Games.

"Now, let me introduce, your contestants!" Mistress Child shouted out. "First, we have Aardvakia, from the West Blue…"

Mistress Child starts the list of candidates.

There are a few that stand out to Rex. Buche from the Charlotte Family, Terracotta from Alabasta, Wanze, officially from the West Blue but Rex knew he was Cipher Pol and more. There was also an Okama named Tibany from Momoiro Island.

Seeing this, Rex smiled. Based off his knowledge of the 99 attack recipes, he had expected an Okama to come, but it was good that he was right. That would make Kid's mission much more doable.

After all, while Rex promised to take Tiger to Momoiro Island, he had no idea exactly where it was. He knew that it was somewhere on the Fool's Gambit route, but the island itself was un-chartable.

As such, Rex was happy he got this opportunity to 'borrow' a permanent Log Pose to the island.

Eventually, Mistress Child finishes the list before clearing her throat.

"Now that I've announced the chefs you've all been waiting for let's start with our 4'Wild Card' contestants!" Mistress Child announces. "All the way from Fishman Island, we have the eight-course terror, Hatchan! Then, from the mysterious land of giants, give it up for GOLDBERG! We've also got a surprise east blue guest, give it up for Baratie Patty! And, last but not least, from the North Blue, let's give it up for Thatch, the cuisineer!"

Rex widens his eyes at these last three candidates. Each of them was a character he recognized from canon. Goldberg was a member of Buggy's delivery, Patty was a chef and combatant under Zeff and as for Thatch, he was the most famous of all. The man who originally found the edgy-edgy fruit used by Blackbeard.

Each of them was a top-tier chef with equal, top-tier combat potential. Thatch in particular would become a top-four Yonko Commander level fighter at a relatively young age.

Rex finds a smile coming to his face as he looks down at the four chefs. In his eyes, they were no longer people, but potential crewmen. And, like it or not, one of them would be on his crew tomorrow.