Chapter 29: Green Hair and Yellow Hair
The Shimotsuki family is truly full of talented people. He has this kind of skill too?
Shane was a little surprised. He bent down, preparing to tap the wooden leg to test its feel. As soon as he squatted, he came face-to-face with a certain blond, curly-browed kid.
"B-Big Bro Shane!"
Sanji was a little nervous and stammered, "Thank you! The old geezer told me everything. If you hadn't arrived in time, we would have both starved to death on that deserted island!"
What a cute voice... is there a Chopper hiding in there?
"I don't deserve that much credit," Shane said, smiling as he ruffled the boy's small head. "You should thank Uncle Zeff for being alive."
"I know."
Sanji nodded forcefully.
He had only gotten the full story after waking up in the clinic this morning. He had immediately hugged Zeff's stump and cried his eyes out. Zeff, however, had laughed and comforted him, saying how could he just sit by and watch a kid with the same dream starve to death? This only made him cry harder, and he didn't calm down until just before they left.
"Uncle Zeff."
Shane tapped the wooden leg and looked up. "It seems like your daily activities won't be affected, but what about combat? Can you still use your kicking techniques?"
"Eh?" Zeff was dumbfounded. "Benefactor, you... you knew my identity?"
"I did," Shane said, clapping his hands and standing up. "Captain of the Cook Pirates, Red-Leg Zeff. You're pretty famous in the East Blue."
In fact, he was more than just famous. Zeff had survived a year in the Grand Line and returned to the East Blue, making him a hidden boss-level figure. He had also seen his wanted poster in the newspaper: 50,000,000 Belli, a figure in a league of its own in the East Blue.
"Then why are you so calm? I'm a pirate. Shouldn't you be afraid?"
"Are you the type of person to be ungrateful?" Shane gave him a strange look. "If not, why should I be afraid?"
Pirates certainly had a bad reputation among the public. But he, after all, was a transmigrator who knew the plot. He wouldn't be foolish enough to judge someone harshly just based on their faction. In this tumultuous Great Pirate Era, you couldn't hold people to the strict moral standards of his past modern society. He had a good impression of people on both the Marine and pirate sides, and Zeff was undoubtedly one of them.
"This..." Zeff was taken aback. He suddenly realized that this benefactor who had saved him was no simple character either.
He looked around again.
Koshiro was still smiling gently, as if the conversation hadn't affected him at all.
So they aren't ordinary people either... Zeff couldn't help but laugh out loud. The faint trace of restraint he had felt completely vanished.
"My kicks, well, I can barely use them, but their power is greatly reduced!" Zeff said heartily. "With what little skill I have left, I can't survive in the Grand Line. I can't be a pirate anymore. But that's fine. At my age, it's about time I took a rest."
But Shane could still see a hint of gloom in his eyes. He pondered for a moment and asked, "So, what are your plans now?"
"Well... I'm not sure," Zeff said, looking at the little kids training boisterously in the dojo. He suddenly said, "I say, Mr. Koshiro, is your dojo still hiring a cook?"
"Hm?"
Koshiro was a little surprised and shook his head. "How could we afford to hire a cook? In the past, Kuina and I used to take turns cooking. It's only in recent years, as more and more children have come to learn kendo, that we've had the granny from next door help out."
"How about you let me give it a try?" Zeff grinned. "It just so happens that no one has had breakfast yet. Let this old man show off his skills!"
"You're still recovering, how is that appropriate..."
Koshiro subconsciously tried to dissuade him, but Zeff had already waved his hand and strode towards the kitchen. His loud voice boomed from the doorway, "Curly-brows! Get in here and help!"
"Coming!"
Sanji's eyes lit up, and he rushed over eagerly.
What is this? How can we let an injured guest cook? Koshiro sighed and facepalmed. He looked inside the dojo and said, "Kuina, Zoro, you two go help as well."
"Yes, Father."
Kuina nodded, put down her bamboo sword, and expressionlessly grabbed a certain little moss-head by the ear as he struggled and yelled, "I don't wanna!" and dragged him towards the kitchen.
In the kitchen.
Zoro was furiously chopping an onion with a kitchen knife, his face looking like someone owed him five million Belli.
What the heck! Interrupting my training to make me come here and do chores!
"Your name is Zoro, right?" A small blond head suddenly popped up next to him, friendly and enthusiastic. "Nice to meet you, I'm Sanji. I've been a professional cook in a ship's galley before, so if there's anything you don't know, you can ask me."
"~If there's anything you don't know, you can ask me~," Zoro repeated mockingly. "Well, there's a lot I don't know. After all, not everyone likes to spend all day cooped up in a place like this."
"I like it a lot," Sanji said, scratching his head with a sunny smile. "Cooking is one of the most interesting things in the world, don't you think? Oh, right—"
He pointed at the onion that was being tragically mangled under Zoro's abuse.
"There's a technique to chopping onions. First, you remove the top and root, then you make a horizontal cut in the middle and lay it flat. That makes it easier..."
"Shut up!"
Zoro turned his head and yelled irritably. "I don't want to hear this nonsense! And why do I always feel like crying when I listen to you talk?!"
"That's because of the onion, not me..." Sanji said, speechless, looking at the teary-eyed Zoro. "Um, you can actually breathe slowly through your mouth, and you can also put a bowl of water next to the cutting board..."
"I still don't want to hear it!"
Zoro roared, baring his teeth. "Are you a man?! Or are you just a girl who recently cut her hair short? How can a man know so much about this stuff instead of training hard with a sword?!"
"Huh?"
Sanji's eyes widened, and his temper flared. "Who are you calling a girl? A guy who can't even chop an onion properly, aren't you afraid you'll slip and cut yourself to death when you swing a sword?"
"And you're proud of being able to chop an onion? Onions are the worst! All those rings, they're as disgusting as your eyebrows!"
"What did you say?! You green-haired plant-person who can't even tell the difference between salt and sugar in a kitchen!"
"You sissy who swings a spatula ten times slower than I swing my sword!"
"You single-celled organism who thinks with his muscles!"
The two little kids were about to press their faces together. They didn't even notice a dangerous figure gradually approaching them from behind.
"You two little brats..." Zeff gritted his teeth, grabbing an ear in each hand. "If you argue in my kitchen again, I'll chop you both into pieces and make you today's main course! Do you hear me?!"
Thump!
One minute later.
Zoro and Sanji were obediently kneeling in the dogeza position in front of the sink, washing vegetables. Both of them had a string of large bumps on their heads, with wisps of steam rising from them.