Gourmet: Cooking for the Multiverse — Chapter 542

Chapter 542: A Low-End War and the Navy’s Losses

After Ren stepped out of the dining area, Perona settled into a plush chair, idly swinging her boots back and forth. She peered around the shop with genuine curiosity. Beneath her gothic, bratty exterior beat the heart of a young girl, and she found herself instantly charmed by the restaurant. The warm lighting, the immaculate wooden tables, the cozy and bright atmosphere—it was a far cry from the dreary, damp halls of Thriller Bark.

Zoro didn’t even spare a glance for Hawk-Eyes. Instead, his lone eye fixed on Nami, who was casually leaning against a counter, loudly crunching on a bag of potato chips.

“Nami,” Zoro started, his brow furrowing. “What exactly are you…”

Nami swallowed her bite and offered a bright smile. “Rayleigh came by here to eat a little while ago. He told us our current strength just isn’t cutting it. Heading straight into the New World right now would be pure suicide. So, he’s planning to take Luffy away to train for a bit. It gives the rest of us a chance to rest and get stronger, too. That’s why I stayed behind!”

Zoro nodded, a faint smirk breaking through his usual stoicism. “I figured you’d come down from upstairs eventually. Honestly, I’m just relieved to see you’re in one piece. Makes me wonder where that tanuki Chopper ended up, though.” He let out a heavy breath. “He really knows how to make a guy worry.”

Nami popped another chip into her mouth. Crunch.

Zoro gave her a flat, deadpan stare. “Hold on… if you’re so worried, could you at least put the snacks down before you talk? You don’t look concerned in the slightest!”

“Hmm? Really?” Nami blinked innocently, licking salt from her thumb. “I’ve been nagging people ever since I got here this morning… Fine, fine, I’ll put them away.”

“You aren’t worried at all, are you?” Zoro muttered.

Nami offered a slightly awkward laugh. “Ah, hahaha… Who said that? I’m incredibly worried! But you have to remember… for every month that passes in our world, only a single day goes by in this one.”

Perona froze, her swinging legs coming to an abrupt halt. She bolted upright, her eyes wide. “Wait, what is this about ‘our world’and’your world’?!”

Zoro sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. “Didn’t I tell you this was a restaurant from another world? We aren’t in our own universe anymore.”

Perona sat in stunned silence for several agonizing seconds. Then, sheer panic overtook her features. “Another world?! Oh no! I still need to find Lord Moria! How am I supposed to track him down now?! I can’t even get back!”

Nami rolled her eyes. “You can go back just by opening the front door. Didn’t you realize this is the first time Zoro and Hawk-Eyes have ever been here?”

Perona let out a long, shaky breath, slumping back into her chair. “You scared me to death… But wait, if that’s true, one day here equals an entire month back home! That time difference is insane!”

Nami nodded in agreement before turning a puzzled look toward the swordsman. “By the way, Zoro… why exactly did you walk in here with Hawk-Eyes and Perona?”

Zoro leaned against the wall and recounted the chaotic events following their defeat at the Sabaody Archipelago. He explained how Kuma’s paw pad had sent him hurtling through the sky for days.

Nami leaned in, bewildered. “So, how do you not remember how long you were flying?”

“Me?” Zoro crossed his arms. “I was flying through the clouds the whole time, and I was already pretty banged up, so I just went to sleep. How was I supposed to know I’d crash into the ground right when I was sleeping soundly? Broke a few bones on impact! Hahahaha!”

A heavy silence descended over the room.

Reimu swallowed hard, staring at him as if he were an alien. “You were covered in life-threatening injuries, flying through the upper atmosphere, and you just… took a nap?”

“Hmm? Didn’t I just bleed a little?” Zoro asked, genuinely confused by their reactions.

“A little?!” the entire room chorused.

Nami buried her face in her hands. “I told you all. Zoro is the kind of idiot who simply refuses to die, no matter how much blood he loses.”

“Hey! Nami! Don’t go adding weird attributes to me!”

“Hahaha! It’s a small matter, really,” Nami waved him off before glancing toward the elegant youkai sitting nearby. “Miss Yakumo, what were you about to say?”

Yakumo Yukari tapped her folding fan against her chin, a lazy, amused smile gracing her lips. “You are all so terribly focused on his injuries. I was the only one who noticed the sheer luxury of sleeping the entire way while being flung across the world.”

Hancock remained silent, though her elegant brow twitched slightly at the sheer absurdity of the conversation. Perona, having just processed the reality of Zoro’s near-death arrival, had to muffle a snort to keep from laughing herself sick.

Yakumo Ran, however, felt a sudden spike of dread. She looked at her master nervously. “Lady Yukari, what exactly are you planning?”

“Oh, nothing much,” Yukari mused, her eyes half-closed. “I was merely sighing over the fact that such sleep quality makes me quite envious…”

Ran panicked, waving her hands frantically. “Lady Yukari! Your sleep quality is already exceptional! There is absolutely no need for you to learn strange habits from a swordsman!”

“Eh? Is that so?” Yukari chuckled softly. “What a shame. I was originally planning to ask Pandemonica for advice on how to sleep for a few hundred or perhaps a few thousand years straight.”

Ran’s blood ran cold. If Yukari slept for that long, the sheer volume of neglected paperwork and boundary maintenance would work her loyal shikigami into an early grave.

Lucifer, nursing a glass of wine nearby, let out an annoyed scoff. “Pandemonica is constantly working overtime. She hasn’t rested in centuries. If you want to sleep that deeply, you just need to work continuously… Let’s see, count about five hundred years of working from dawn until dusk without a single break. Do that, and you’ll drop dead to the world too.”

Yukari’s serene smile faltered slightly. “Should I praise Miss Pandemonica for being incredible enough to endure such endless overtime? Or should I point out that you, her boss, are simply too cruel?”

Around the room, several heads nodded in solemn agreement. Even Hawk-Eyes offered a faint, silent nod of respect. Enduring centuries of customer service and administrative overtime without rest required a level of strength few possessed.

Once the chatter died down, Zoro looked back to the navigator. “Well, you were right to come here early, Nami. The reunion has definitely been postponed. We’re looking at a two-year gap now. Starting next month.”

Nami did the mental math, her eyes lighting up. “Wait, then I can stay here for a really long time! Perfect. The shopkeeper mentioned he could find me some advanced weather-related information. I can study and get a proper rest all at once!”

Zoro nodded in approval.

Lucifer swirled her wine, her crimson eyes flicking toward the swordsman. “So, what exactly happened in your world to cause all this?”

Zoro’s expression darkened slightly. “Ace was framed by Blackbeard. He was captured by the Navy and sentenced to execution, but then he mysteriously vanished.”

Nami waved a hand, cutting through the tension. “Oh, Ace just came directly into the shop. He escaped the execution entirely.” She quickly summarized the sheer absurdity of the Fire Fist crashing into the restaurant, completely bypassing the Navy’s grand trap.

Zoro blinked in surprise, then let out a bark of laughter. “So we actually have Kizaru to thank for kicking him through the door! I was wondering why Ace suddenly disappeared off the face of the earth. Anyway, with their prize prisoner gone, the Navy went into a frantic search. Rayleigh eventually took Luffy and met up with Ace to find Whitebeard.”

Nami leaned forward, completely invested. “Mhm, mhm! And then what?”

“And then… the Navy managed to track their whereabouts,” Zoro explained, his tone turning serious. “Rumor has it that two Admirals, the entire roster of Vice Admirals, and a massive fleet of Marines engaged the Whitebeard Pirates out at sea.”

Nami gasped. “And then?!”

“And then, because the Navy had already lost a significant chunk of their combat power and positioning without Marineford’s defenses, they were at a severe disadvantage. They eventually had to retreat. The Whitebeard Pirates took considerable damage too, and word is Whitebeard himself sustained some injuries. But the Navy didn’t just pull back because they were losing ground. There was another reason.”

Zoro crossed his arms, his lone eye narrowing. “Blackbeard. The Navy got bitten by their own dog. They threw him in Impel Down, but because they deployed so many troops to hunt down Ace and fight Whitebeard, the prison was left vulnerable. Blackbeard broke out. Nobody knows exactly how many people he freed, but it looks like he emptied out more than half of Impel Down’s worst criminals. That’s the real reason the Navy sounded the retreat. Ace was already back with his crew, and trying to force a victory against Whitebeard while their most secure prison was burning down would have destroyed them.”

Nami let out a long breath, her shoulders sagging in relief. “That was too close… It’s a shame they let Blackbeard escape, but at least it ended well. Luffy got to witness a massive clash of the world’s strongest without getting killed.”

“Exciting is one word for it,” Zoro smirked. “Not all of the Shichibukai even bothered to show up for the fight. All things considered, it was a massive stroke of luck. Ace really owes his life to this restaurant. Hahaha!”