Chapter 23

As soon as Sanji came out of the restaurant, Luffy looked at Zeff and spoke.

"You know I really don't feel anything wrong with that soup," he said, causing Zeff to chuckle, and several of the cooks looked at Luffy slightly embarrassed, which confused Luffy.

"There really isn't anything wrong with that soup," said Zeff with a warm smile on his face.

"Sanji is a great cook, one of the best cooks in this restaurant," Patty said, causing several of the other chefs to nod in agreement.

"So why did you say the soup was disgusting?" Luffy asked before he started to eat his food. Zeff walked over to Luffy's table and sat across from him before he started to speak.

"That boy is very stubborn." "He has dreams of his own, but he persists in this restaurant, thinking that he needs to repay a debt that I never expected him to repay," Zeff said, causing Luffy to nod his head, indicating he understood what that meant. from Zeff's words.

"He would never leave of his own accord," she said with a chuckle.

"So we decided to give him a push—a pretty hard push," Patty added, making everyone laugh. It was at that moment that Luffy's observation haki told him that Sanji was standing at the door, listening to everything everyone was saying about him.

Luffy smiled and didn't say anything; instead, he got up and headed for the back door to meet Sanji. When he got there, he saw her leaning against the side of the boat with tears in her eyes. Luffy walked over and stood beside him with his back against the side of the ship.

"You had a dream, Sanji?" Luffy asked, getting his attention. Sanji wiped his eyes before taking out a cigarette and lighting it.

"Yeah, I have one I want to grab before I die," he said before taking a deep drag on his cigarette. "Have you ever heard of All Blue?" he asked. Luffy turned away from him, looked up at the sky, and sighed before he answered.

"Yeah, I've heard of it," said Luffy, surprising Sanji. "It is said to be a legendary ocean, rumored to be the only place in the world where the North, South, East, and West seas meet." In this legendary ocean, it is said that there are fish from each of the four seas. "From what I heard, that's every chef's ultimate dream," said Luffy before looking back at Sanji to see his eyes widen at the fact that Luffy had heard of All Blue.

"Do you think it exists?" Sanji asked in a voice that sounded as if he was afraid of the answer.

"I don't know," said Luffy, making Sanji's mood drop a little. "However..." Luffy said, causing Sanji to look at him with expectant eyes. "There's only one way to find out if it exists or not," he said with a smile that caused Sanji to grin at his side.

"I guess there's only one way, huh?" Sanji asked rhetorically with a grin on his face. Luffy then turned around, looked out at the open sea with a smile, and spoke.

"Let's turn this world upside down," said Luffy in a voice filled with conviction before he turned to Sanji and spoke again. "Get your things ready." "We have to leave as soon as possible," he said before looking in the direction where Nami was sailing.

"I have a thief to catch," he said before heading back inside. When he entered, he saw that everyone was cleaning the restaurant, and several chefs were sitting casually. Luffy walked over to an empty table and sat down with a glass in his hand before he poured himself some whiskey to drink.

While Luffy was enjoying his drink, the restaurant doors flew off their hinges, and something forced its way in. Everyone in the restaurant was shocked by this sudden event. Going from a quiet and peaceful moment suddenly becomes a long and scary one.

Many chefs think it is the pirate Kreig who is back for revenge or the Marines who heard about the fight between Luffy and Kreig and came to catch everyone.

When the dust cloud finally dissipated, everyone was finally able to gaze at the utterly grotesque sight. Lying on the ground was a man who was in the mouth of a shark. For the second time today, Luffy wondered if he should give up alcohol.

Luffy looked around to see if everyone else was seeing the same thing he was, and to his surprise, they were too.

"Is that a fishman?" asked one of the cooks.

"Did he come all the way from Fishman Island just to eat here?" another cook said after the previous chef.

"You idiot, it's a man in a shark's mouth," Patty said to the two cooks. Luffy finally decided to get up from where he was sitting and walk over to get a clear picture of the man. What he saw caused his eyes to widen because it was Yosaku.

Luffy finally pulled him out of the shark's mouth. After he pulled him out of the shark's mouth, some of the chefs took the shark and took it to the kitchen, while others brought blankets for Yosaku.

After sitting him on a chair, Luffy then started asking Yosaku. "Why are you here?" Where are the others? "Did you find Nami?" he asked. Yosaku wrapped himself in a blanket before speaking in a somber tone.

"We didn't actually find her, but from the direction she was headed, we think we already know where Nami has gone and what she is planning," he said, causing Luffy to narrow his eyes slightly.

"I see," he said before taking a sip of the whiskey. "So we can get the ship back," Luffy said, causing Yosaku to lower his head slightly before he answered.

"Maybe," he said, causing Luffy to raise an eyebrow. "But if our suspicions turn out to be true, then the place she's headed could mean death for all of us if we follow her," Yosaku said, surprising Luffy and everyone there with that comment.

"The point is, we really need your help, big brother Luffy." "Please come with me!" Yosaku spoke with a desperate voice.

"Okay, I don't really get it, but never mind." "Let's go," said Luffy before he started walking towards the front door with Yosaku following right behind him, along with all the chefs who wanted to say their goodbyes.

As they walked out the door, everyone saw Sanji standing there with a bag over his shoulder. He then looked at Luffy and spoke.

"Are you ready to go, Captain?" he asked, surprising the chefs who were there.

"Yeah, it looks like everyone is going to need help," said Luffy before he walked towards the edge of the restaurant with Yosaku, leaving Sanji to say goodbye.

He could hear Sanji in the back screaming at the chefs about their lousy acting, and he could also hear Sanji crying as he thanked Zeff for everything he did for him all year.

Luffy then decided to ignore Sanji and looked up at the sky, starting to concentrate on summoning the clouds to be their vehicle. A small portion of the sky started to fill with thunderclouds. After the size matched Luffy's estimation, clouds started to fall from the sky over the restaurant.

By then, Sanji had finished thanking Zeff and came to stand next to Luffy without noticing the clouds falling from the sky.

"How do we get there?" she asked while wiping the remaining tears from her eyes. "If you want, I have a small boat that can take us," he said.

Luffy didn't say anything; he just pointed at the sky, causing Sanji and the chefs to look up as well. To say they were shocked by what they saw is not enough.

Their eyes widened and their jaws dropped from their mouths as they saw a thunder cloud slowly descend from the sky and stop at Luffy's feet.

When the clouds arrived, Luffy got on the cloud, surprising everyone except Yosaku, who had seen him. From the cloud, a throne and two chairs formed in front of Luffy's throne. He then looked at Sanji and Yosaku and spoke.

"Are you two going to be standing there all day or are you ready?" he asked rhetorically, snapping them both out of their reverie. They quickly climbed into the clouds and sat down on the chairs.

When he sat down, a rope made of electricity shot out of the cloud and surrounded them, tying them to their seats. Luffy then turned toward Zeff and spoke. "Take care of yourself, old man," he said before a cloud drifted across the water at incredible speed in the direction where the rest of the crew had gone.

"Impudent brat," Zeff said as he stared at the cloud that was getting smaller as it sped up.