Baratie

Baratie

After a few weeks, Jonathan finally arrived somewhere. He didn't think the ocean was so immense. In fact, maybe he had gotten lost along the way... that's a truth he'd hate to admit.

Looking at the restaurant ahead of him in the middle of the ocean, curiosity sparked in his eyes. Truly, where there's demand, there's an opportunity.

Jonathan never had a home to begin with. Sure, he could choose any planet to spend his entire life as a king, but that was too little for his ambition. So, his primary means of sustenance was stopping at restaurants that were in the middle of space. Boy, did he miss space octopus.

As he approached the island, he noticed how his boat had held up this far. Of course, he wasn't an idiot. In the beginning, he had stolen the ship from that navy captain, but it would soon attract too much attention... so along the way, he seized a new ship and some treasures that were there.

Finally arriving at the restaurant's pier, he got off the small boat and headed towards the famous baratie, when suddenly...

''DING, THE HOST IS NEAR ONE OF THIS WORLD'S LUCKY CHILDREN. THE CELESTIAL WILL NOTICE ANY MOVEMENT THAT INTERFERES WITH THE CANON.''

Upon hearing that voice again, Jonathan had a mix of emotions: anger, joy, frustration. While this notification declared a great threat to him, it was still an opportunity to gain incredible rewards.

After spending some weeks at sea pondering over what this voice could be, he finally understood, and it wasn't necessarily difficult. He was an intruder, plain and simple. And for some reason, the will that governed this world wanted to kill him for it. He didn't have any denial in recognizing this; he already considered himself an intruder in his past life. That's what he was.

Thinking that there were destined people in this world made him envious. Yes, he hated admitting that, because it made him think that in his universe, there were also people destined for a great purpose. What a mess, it shouldn't work like that.

Grumbling, he entered the restaurant. His keen sense of smell picked up the best scent he had ever experienced, and his hearing soon caught the chefs' shouts coming from the kitchen.

"Sir, this way, please."

Soon, Jonathan was directed to some of the available tables. Damn, looking around, he noticed some looks of suspicion regarding sailors and pirates.

"It seems you accept any kind of customer, don't you?" Jonathan said while following the waiter who was guiding him.

Hearing Jonathan's question, a smile appeared on the waiter's face as they continued walking.

"When you pass through that door, you're subject to Baratie's rules, sir, and here we accept any kind of customer. Sometimes there are some wisecrackers, but they're quickly taken care of."

Jonathan could hear a small laugh from the waiter at his last sentence. Well, he wouldn't cause any trouble. The issue of the lucky child was occasional, to begin with, why should he listen to that voice in his head? Jonathan wasn't someone who took risks lightly; he didn't want to die meaninglessly. That was the truth; he wanted to depend as little as possible on this system he possessed.

"What are your true intentions, weird voice?"

As Jonathan grumbled to himself in his head, he soon arrived at his table, and the waiter politely left, taking some notes of Jonathan's order.

After some time, Jonathan was already enjoying his meal. However, something bothered him. Looking towards the noise, he soon found out it was coming from the entrance of the restaurant.

"Let this discussion not be directed at me."

Returning his gaze to his meal, he started eating calmly.

*

"Please understand, sir, we don't have that much food here. Even if we did, we couldn't serve the next customers," one of the waiters said desperately, trying to calm down the man in front of him with his henchmen.

On the other hand, the man causing so much trouble had lost his patience a long time ago. The waiter was met with a shot directly to his chest.

'BANG'

That was the sound the entire hall could hear. All eyes immediately turned to where it came from.

"Idiot, who do you think you are to deny food to me and my crew?" A proud smile appeared on the man's face. "I AM DON KRIEG, THE STRONGEST MAN IN EAST BLUE."

When these last words were spoken, the entire restaurant went down, whether they were novice pirates or some sailors who only came aboard to eat a little. Everyone knew that name, Don Krieg. Don Krieg, one of East Blue's powers. With 17 million berries on his head.

"DON KRIEG?" A voice came from the restaurant's kitchen. "I don't care who you are, kid, get out of my restaurant."

An old man with a peg leg and dressed as a cook came out of the kitchen; his voice echoed throughout the place.

The entire restaurant fell silent. Zeff Red-Leg, the former pirate captain who was now the head chef of this place.

Seeing Zeff's presence, Don Krieg didn't feel threatened. What could an old-timer from the old guard do with him and his incredible armor? What a joke.

On the other hand, Krieg didn't respond to the old man and just advanced towards him.

The confrontation had begun.

Krieg delivered one of his most well-known blows, Diamond Fist, hidden under his gloves. Zeff, on the other hand, defended himself with his peg leg.

*ARRG*

The result was what everyone expected. Zeff had his peg leg destroyed, almost his waist crushed by the force of Krieg.

Blood spilled all over the restaurant, landing on customers' plates. Zeff was sent like a cannonball back into the kitchen, where he was met with disbelieving looks from the cooks, but they were all trembling in fear. They couldn't do anything.

Don Krieg, on the other hand, remained in the center of the restaurant with a proud smile and a rather extravagant posture. "Old fool."

Some pirates and sailors who were sitting enjoying their meals, on the other hand, felt obliged to stand up and defend Zeff's honor. Damn, even if they were enemies, everyone knew that Zeff was a great cook who never turned down a customer in this place. He treated everyone equally. Despite noble thoughts in their heads, in the end, they didn't stand up and remained seated.

Observing everything as a spectator, Jonathan enjoyed the show. And he analyzed the whole situation in case he were to get into conflict. The result? Krieg was too slow. Looking at some of his henchmen, around forty of them, he didn't even have the will to judge them. That would be different if Krieg brought his entire army. Jonathan would be defeated by fatigue and would be killed.

Since the beginning of the conflict, he had thought of taking advantage of all this. His idea was to steal everything precious in this place. And of course, steal the customers too.

Judging that the two people who were fighting were the strongest in the place, he prepared to get up from his table and end it all at once.

Amidst the debris and a huge breach at the entrance of the kitchen, a man emerged.

"Look what you did, you bastard, you know how much this mess is going to cost?" Sanji said as he passed by Zeff's body lying on the ground amidst the debris.

When Jonathan returned his attention to the man, a shrill voice appeared in his head.

"HOST, ONE OF THIS WORLD'S LUCKY CHILDREN HAS APPEARED. YOUR ACTIONS ARE BEING FULLY MONITORED BY THE CELESTIAL WILL. BE CAREFUL."