This ship could no longer carry their ambitions.
Rocks walked to the bow, facing the sea breeze, and stared at the boundless ocean in silence for a long time. He knew he had to make a change. He turned, his gaze sweeping over each of his crew members, finally landing on Ren.
"Ren."
"Hm?"
"If I gave you the sturdiest ship in the world, and the best kitchen in the world, could you make this crew... even stronger?"
Ren's hand, which was wiping the bone cleaver, paused. He looked up, and a flame of ambition ignited in his calm eyes. "As long as the ingredients are top-tier, absolutely."
"Wahahaha! Good!" Rocks laughed heartily. He pulled out a worn-out sea chart from somewhere and spread it on the deck. He slammed his finger down on the chart, his voice booming like a bell, filled with an unquestionable dominance. "Alright, boys! Our next target—the Marine G-5 Branch! We're going to steal—no, we're going to build our Head Chef the strongest ship in the world!"
The Marine G-5 Branch. The name was like a giant rock thrown into a calm lake, creating a thousand waves on the deck. "G-5? Captain, are you joking?" Dolum's face was even paler than when he had seen the cracks in the hull. "That's the Marines' most important large-scale shipbuilding and R&D base in the first half of the Grand Line! It's known as the 'moving Great Wall of the sea'! Its defenses are more than ten times stronger than the G-8 fortress we encountered before!"
"Yeah, yeah!" Gatz, for once, also lost his fighting spirit and scratched his head. "I heard the commander there is a Vice Admiral from Headquarters named 'Iron Stomach' Bastille. Not only is he as strong as a monster, but he's also famously stubborn. He's turned G-5 into an iron fortress; not even a seagull can fly in."
"And most importantly, a fleet of thirty large warships and tens of thousands of elite marines are stationed there year-round. There are so many cannons they could blot out the sky," Silver added, his intelligence always the most accurate. "A frontal assault is suicide."
The crew's concerns were not unfounded. The current Rocks Pirates, although composed of future sea titans, were still in their infancy. They had only a dilapidated small ship that could fall apart at any moment and six core members, including the chef. To challenge a top-tier Marine fortress armed to the teeth with such a force sounded like a joke.
Rocks, however, paid no mind to their reactions. He just looked at Ren with his arms crossed, a look of interest on his face, as if waiting for him to speak.
Ren walked over to the sea chart, his gaze lingering on the G-5 fortress, which was marked with a skull and crossbones. "A frontal assault is what a fool would do," he said calmly, his words instantly extinguishing the flicker of fighting desire that had just risen in Gatz. "But any strong fortress can be broken from within, especially when its commander has a clear weakness."
Ren's finger tapped lightly on the name "Iron Stomach" Bastille. "I've studied this person's profile. Bastille, a Zoan-type Devil Fruit user, is cruel and a harsh military leader, but he has one fatal hobby—gourmet food. It's said that for every meal, he must enjoy rare ingredients from all over the world. Half of the G-5 Branch's supply line is dedicated to serving his appetite alone. To obtain a mythical seasoning, he even led his fleet to level a kingdom."
A faint arc appeared on the corner of Ren's lips, the smile of a hunter who has found a flaw in his prey. "For a chef, a greedy eater is the best breakthrough point."
"You mean..." a light flashed in Rocks's eyes.
"We don't need a frontal assault," Ren looked up at the crew, his tone calm but full of confidence. "We just need a bait that he can't refuse, and he will personally open the gates of that fortress for us."
"Infiltrate... with food?" Dolum felt his brain was struggling to keep up.
"That's right," Ren nodded. "I need a special ingredient, something that is absolutely impossible to have in the G-5 kitchen, something that would make a gourmet like Bastille go crazy for it." He took out his ingredient index from his pocket and flipped to a page. On it was a drawing of a strange creature. It was shaped like a squid, but its entire body shone with a brilliant, star-like light...
At the G-5 Branch, in the commander's office, a man with a physique as massive as an iron tower stood with his hands behind his back in front of a huge floor-to-ceiling window, looking out at his proud steel fleet. He was the highest commander of the G-5 Branch, Marine Vice Admiral "Iron Stomach" Bastille.
"What did you say?" Bastille didn't turn around, his voice as deep as thunder. "A merchant fleet calling themselves 'Seven Seas Aquatic Products' sent a sample, claiming to have the world's most top-tier, dream-like ingredient, and wants to make a deal with me?"
"Yes, sir," an adjutant stood respectfully behind him, sweat beading on his forehead. "They are at docking area A-7 in the harbor. They said... they said their ingredient is only for a king who truly knows how to appreciate it."
"A king?" Bastille scoffed and turned around. His weathered face was filled with a murderous aura. A狰狞 scar ran from his forehead to his chin, making him look less like a Marine admiral and more like a demon who had crawled out of hell. "These days, even fishmongers are so arrogant?"
He was about to order these ignorant fools to be driven away, but the words "dream-like ingredient" were like a small feather, gently tickling his heart, which had been made incredibly discerning by gourmet food. "Where's the sample?"
"Here, sir," the adjutant quickly presented a beautiful box made of deep-sea cold jade, which was still emitting wisps of cold air. Bastille took the box and opened it. An indescribable, deep, and savory aroma, as if containing a universe of stars, instantly filled the entire office.
In the center of the box, a small dish made of pure black crystal held a pool of inky sauce that was like a melted galaxy. The sauce shimmered with magnificent colors under the light, at times as deep as the night sky, at other times as brilliant as the Milky Way, as if it had a life of its own. Just by smelling this aroma, Bastille could feel all the taste buds in his body awakening and clamoring. He dipped a finger in and brought it to his mouth.
BOOM!
It was as if an entire universe had exploded in Bastille's mind. It was an ultimate umami that could not be described in words, as if the essence of the entire deep sea had been concentrated in this single drop. The flavor changed continuously on his tongue with the change in temperature, at times the salty freshness of the tide, at other times the subtle sweetness of coral, at other times the mystery and depth of the deep-sea trenches.
"This... this is..." A look of shock appeared on Bastille's demonic face. "Bring them to me!" he roared. "No! Bring my mobile kitchen to the harbor! I want to watch them cook a dish for me with this ingredient with my own eyes!"
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