[57] In Search of a Ginger (1)

Chapter 57: In Search of a Ginger (1)

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The Head-Chef of Baratie Restaurant was Zeff. Before opening this restaurant, Red-Leg Jeff was the captain of the Cook Pirates until his crew was annihilated in a storm in Grandline.

Despite not being particularly strong in the grand scheme of things, Zeff was a legend in his own right. He cut his leg off to save a starving Sanji years ago, and yet with a single leg, he passed down his kick-fighting style to Sanji—and in the canon, he would use the skills to become the wing of the future pirate King.

However, Zeff's greatest power wasn't his martial arts. It was his cooking. He himself wasn't aware, but this world had few who could match his skill. He knew how cooking worked down to its atoms, so he could make dishes that were easily considered 'the best of a customer's life.

The guests who came today were no exception. However, there was a weird thing about one of them.

"Oh my~ The garlic and saffron are just perfect-! Ah, I think the pepperoni could have been a little better…? Like .25 grams."

"Ah, the sweet is really good too. I made this dish once, actually, but I used 249 grams of sugar. You used… ah, 220 grams? That's why this feels much better to the tongue. There are some other factors though…"

Zeff stood stiffly, sweating a little, as he heard the blonde woman speak as she tried the dishes he cooked.

When Sanji rushed to the kitchen, despite having been ordered to act as a Waiter, Zeff pushed him out and took the orders in his stead. The countless dishes for the four people were finished in no time, and served too. Later, Sanji came to call him while wearing a shocked expression. Zeff had no choice but to follow him out and see what was wrong.

Looking back, he hadn't been this surprised in years. There were people with good tongues who could tell the ingredients used in a dish, was this woman one of them? Even so, this was on a whole other.

"Whoa…"

Zeff noticed he wasn't the only one surprised. The three companions to the blonde girl, all looked at her speechlessly. The black-haired boy was the first to voice his shock.

"This is crazy. You never told us you were a freak?"

"Wh-what?!"

The blonde woman nearly choked and shot him a glare. Clearing her throat, she took in the surroundings and maintained a dignified face.

"Freak? Shush, Hashirama. It's called 'God's Tongue', I was born with it. I didn't tell you before because there was no need to comment on my own food, since I am the cook of the ship." She said proudly.

"Ah, but Mikita-chan, how can you tell the weight of the spices? Isn't that too much?"

Sanji asked excitedly, and he was fawning over her more than the usual girls. Looking at his adoptive son's heart-shaped eyes, Zeff supposed he must be thinking he found his soul mate. After all, he loved food and he loved women, and this particular woman had both the qualities of a beautiful woman and a great cook.

"Oh, that's thanks to my Devil Fruit. It's weight-related, so it helps."

The girl named Mikita said, and Zeff suddenly understood the situation. They must be from the Grandline since otherwise, Zeff would have heard about someone so talented who also had a devil fruit.

While Sanji fawned over the girl, the other two girls praising the blonde one, Zeff wondered about the true identity of these people. Simultaneously, Hashirama continued looking at the blonde girl in shock.

The blonde giggled at his expression. "Look at you? You're so taken back by my greatness, heh."

"What? No."

Hashirama reacted to the accusation in pure shock as he wore a frown.

"I am surprised at how mediocre of a cook you are, even with such a godly cheat. How can you be this trash even with the greatest cheat a cook can dream of?"

The table fell silent for a moment, as everyone shot Hashirama a stunned glare. The one most stunned was obviously Mikita, who got furious in no time.

"…That's it! That was too far! I will kill you, bastard!"

Hashirama dodged an incoming punch, and Mikita got up from her seat to attack again. The two then started to run from one table to another, while Zeff smiled a little. It reminded him of back when he set sail. This seemed like a fun crew.

* * *

"Mhm- let me go~"

In one corner of the floating restaurant, outside, two couples were indulging in adultery.

Pushing Mikita against the wall, her chest pressing against the wooden wall, Hashirama was behind her with his right hand wrapped around her waist over her hands. His left hand was grabbing her chin and holding it backward, while his lips were pushed against hers and kissed her sloppily.

Mikita shuddered in his hold as he violated her, her strength falling short as her body weakened due to invading pleasure.

"Ugh, mhm~ fuck… Why are you so good at this… asshole."

"Says the slut wearing the slutty dress."

Hashirama's arms freed to turn her body around and grope her soft butt.

"You should have told me about your God's Tongue before, though."

"Hey, bastard, let's stop here—someone might see."

Hashirama ignored her and pushed his tongue out. Mikita was about to ask what he was doing, before his tongue turned green due to a liquid that formed on his tongue.

"It's a sort of aphrodisiac, restricted to your mouth. It's crazy how many medicines I can make with my power."

Hashirama watched her face distort in horror, as he forced a kiss onto her. She tried but failed to resist as her mouth was overwhelmed by pleasure. Her tongue burned in liquid pleasure as her face went bright red and her thighs went damp.

Mikita lost herself soon enough, still cursing him, as she went along with his rhythm. She forgot about the possibility of getting caught—until she returned back to herself when he stopped.

"But you're right. It'd be awkward to get caught."

Hashirama said and spanked her jiggly butt, watching her frown at him with a furious expression.

"Assh0le bastard."

"Cute bitch."

"Fuck you."

"Not now, sweetie."

Hashirama pinched her pouty cheeks and spanked her one last time before he walked away. Mikita groaned as she realized just how wet she was and had no choice but to return to the ship docked nearby to go change her clothes.

* * *

Around two hours later, the group finished their dining. They had eaten a lot—though it was mostly Hashirama who could eat a lot. He particularly liked their juices.

"Hey, Hashirama~ can't we stay here for a bit more? Palace food can't compare to this, so I wanna eat more! But my stomach can only take so much at once."

Vivi seemed excited, and though Robin and Mikita didn't say anything, they too appeared excited. Hashirama tilted his head seeing their reaction, and went through simulations in his head.

"All right. I have an idea. Let's go to the head chef."

Hashirama said, and the girls looked curious as to what he was planning.

A few minutes later, the group went near the kitchen and entered once they got permission. Sanji was cooking right then, and he began fawning over the girls, while Zeff stood stoically—while perfectly cooking at the same time.

Hashirama waved at Zeff. "Hey, mister. We are currently on a trip, and the girls say it'd be a pity to not spend more time on our trip in this place. If you have no trouble, may we keep the ship docked near yours for a few days?"

Zeff didn't find any problem with that, wiping a bead of sweat from his forehead, as he nodded.

"That's fine. It's not the first time a ship decided to spend a few more days than planned. There shouldn't be any problem for your ship to be here. Ah, there may be pirate attacks though—I can't guarantee against that. So you have to take care of yourselves."

"All right." Hashirama pointed at Mikita next. "On that note, can you teach her for the next few days? Since we are staying anyway, it's better for her to learn a thing or two from a Master Chef such as yourself."

"Huh? Is that all right, Hashirama?"

Mikita looked stunned, and the reason for her stun turned his head to the side. Sanji appeared excited by the news.

"Mikita-chan will cook here? Ehehe, why are you asking that old man? I am a better cook! I can teach her."

Sanji nearly fell to the boiling oil when Zeff threw a spoon at him. Zeff then turned to look at Hashirama.

"Hm… It's not a bad offer. She has an interesting power; her analysis can help me get better too. Sadly, I can't do it for free. How about you three work as waiters in the meantime she works as a cook? As you noticed, we are lacking workers right now."

"That should be fine?"

Hashirama asked as he turned to look at Vivi and Robin, who both nodded casually.

"Yeah, it's fine."

With that, the crew took their leave from the kitchen and went back to their ship.

* * *

It appeared Mikita was a little surprised by how Hashirama was fine with her working as a cook there.

Hashirama guessed she was worried about Sanji. Though Hashirama didn't really mind Sanji himself. For lack of a better word, Sanji's 'simping' was very safe. By all means, he was a gentleman. His perverted limits were at peeking, but as Mikita would be cooking, that danger was not applicable. Rather Sanji would be too focused on cooking.

That aside, Hashirama himself would always be present there anyway. This was the real world, so Sanji may not be a PG-13 character. So if anything bad and dangerous really occurred, Hashirama could take care of it at any given moment.

On that note,

"By the way, it's time for us to split up."

Hashirama said to his crewmates who were sitting on the deck around him as they all played Ludo together.

He weaved a simple hand sign and a wood clone popped up beside him. The Jutsu took longer than usual to perform, due to how much chakra he put into it.

"Real me stays here with you guys, while the clone leaves. It has 15 days' worth of 'charge' unless it starts performing techniques. Instead of wasting time on the restaurant, the clone will search for the person we are looking for."

Robin hummed. "Will 15 days be enough?"

"We will stay in Baratie for 4 days anyway, so 15 days is more than enough."

He replied, and suddenly looked at the crew's pet duck.

"Ah, since this is a scout mission anyway, does Karoo want to go with Clone-rama? It's gonna be fun."

Karoo, who was observing the board game until now, blinked upon hearing that. Her expression went through a series of changes before she nodded.

"Karoo!"

"Huh? Hey Karoo, shouldn't you ask mommy for permission first?"

Vivi asked in shock but the duck ignored her, too excited by the idea of adventure. The clone smiled and went to hug the duck, patting her head.

"In that case, you should leave, Clone-rama."

Hashirama waved at the clone, and it nodded.

Hashirama used a bit of his chakra to cast a simple Jutsu on the ship. The Sail of Ohara gave birth to a small mini boat from its side, as if dividing, and the clone jumped on it after Karoo.

Vivi continued yelling, while the rest of the crew gave the two of them a wave of their hands. The boat moved a few times faster than the typical ones and vanished on the evening horizon.

Thus, as the main group stayed for their cooking training, the smaller crew parted for a more interesting journey.

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[•] A reminder that just because Marianne has feelings, doesn't mean Tsunade returns them. This is not a Yuri novel.

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