The chilly restaurant was now quiet, with only one table still producing the sound of chewing.
"Luffy, are you alright?" Usopp asked with concern.
By now, Luffy's stomach was so round it looked like a giant balloon.
Yet his hands were still grabbing food, endlessly shoving it into his mouth.
"Mmmph—so good!" Luffy swallowed down a mouthful of food with a loud gulp. "I've never eaten anything this delicious before!"
"I have to make him join our crew! …Ahm!" he said, stuffing more food into his already full belly.
Tap… Tap…
Reiner and Sanji walked out of the kitchen side by side. Sanji blew out a long trail of smoke.
"Alright, I'll go with you guys."
Luffy turned his head, his face slowly breaking into a wide grin.
"I won!! —Hic~"
"I only agreed to board the ship, that doesn't mean I lost!"
"Shishishi, then you win… I can't eat any… hic~ more."
Luffy's voice gradually weakened as he fell over, wobbling like a toy with a vacant stare.
Nami and Usopp couldn't help but start pushing him back and forth from either side like he was a plaything.
"Unbelievable." Reiner sighed, holding his forehead. "Because of your little contest, this meal is going to cost us a fortune."
At that moment, a burly cook—who looked a bit like Popeye—ran over ingratiatingly.
"Thank you for dining with us! Your total bill is 1.2 million Berries."
"So expensive! You're robbing us blind!" Nami shouted angrily before anyone else could respond.
Although Reiner was the one holding the money, this was the entire crew's funds, so of course, Nami felt the sting.
"It's fine, Nami," Reiner waved it off.
This was, after all, a famous high-class restaurant in the East Blue. The high price was to be expected… not to mention Luffy's bottomless stomach.
"Here's 10 million Berries. Pack up the remaining food for us to take with us."
Reiner handed over a bundle of large-denomination bills. "Sanji, go gather your things. We'll set out shortly."
After settling everything, Reiner stepped outside.
Even for Don Krieg's 5,000-man fleet, just keeping everyone fed must have been a massive expense.
Their main ship had to be carrying treasure or cash of some sort.
Thinking this, Reiner released dozens of Fishman undead into the sea, letting them dive down to salvage what they could.
These were the sixty-plus Fishman undead he had taken from Arlong Park. To maximize their aquatic abilities, he had preserved features like their webbing and fins.
He could sculpt ordinary human corpses into Fishman shapes, but he couldn't actually give them swimming skills or water-adapted attributes—that had to come from the original template.
A while later, Sanji came out with a huge backpack, joining Luffy and the others.
Besides a large portion of food supplies, the rest was his personal set of cooking utensils.
"Let's go, Reiner!"
"Hold on a second!" Reiner answered. He noticed black shadows rising in the water nearby.
Dozens of Fishman-shaped undead broke the surface, bubbling as they emerged.
"Let's see what they brought up."
Reiner had them climb ashore and went forward to check.
Some were empty-handed, but others clutched scattered treasure or bundles of damp, wrinkled cash.
"Ohhh!" Nami's eyes instantly turned into glittering $ signs as she rushed closer.
"Nice work, Reiner!"
"Don't flatter me, flattery doesn't get you a cut," he teased.
The undead hauled the treasure onto the ship, and the group bid farewell to Baratie, setting sail once more.
Not long into their journey, a News Coo wearing a white cap landed on the railing of the ship.
"Ugh, did the price go up again? If it does next time, I'm not buying anymore, you hear me?" Nami complained.
"You bully even the news gull? You're ruthless," Reiner said with a laugh.
"Mind your business." Nami stuck out her tongue, sat in a lounge chair, and began reading.
"This is… your wanted posters!?"
Huh? Ours?
Reiner's eyes widened as he snatched the papers from her hand.
The others quickly crowded around to look.
The first poster was unmistakably Luffy, grinning under his straw hat. Judging by the background, it was taken at Arlong Park.
Must've been shot secretly… probably by Captain Nezumi's men.
"Captain of the Straw Hat Pirates, Monkey D. Luffy. Thirty million Berries."
Seeing the long string of zeroes, Usopp gasped and clutched his face.
Luffy, on the other hand, looked thrilled.
"Shishishi! What about the next one? Are there more?"
Reiner quickly pulled out the next sheet, silently praying. I've been keeping my head down… don't let me be on there. The last thing I want is a bounty this early.
"Roronoa Zoro, 16 million Berries!"
"Oh? So I've been noticed too?" Zoro smirked.
Reiner frowned slightly. If he remembered correctly, Zoro's first bounty in the original timeline came much later, directly at sixty million after the Alabasta incident.
"Must be because he helped take down Arlong," Reiner muttered.
Pulling away Zoro's sheet revealed only one more. But instead of Reiner's face…
"The Chainsaw and Blade Demon Duo?" Reiner blinked.
The Chainsaw Demon and the Blade Demon—his undead minions—were the ones with a bounty?
That was good news, but… why not the Wolverine undead that actually landed the killing blow on Arlong?
"Duo bounty: 25 million Berries."
So the Navy had listed them together, like the Cat Brothers from Kuro's crew.
"Did the Marines make a mistake? Why not put a price on Reiner himself?" Usopp wondered.
"No, this is perfect. Absolutely perfect!" Reiner grinned.
Looking at the newspaper, he saw that the Wolverine undead had been reported as having perished along with Arlong.
Reiner recalled the moment when Arlong chopped its neck with a karate chop, leaving its head dangling crookedly.
Meanwhile, the Chainsaw and Blade Demons had rampaged spectacularly—plenty of photos must've been taken.
Nami had no bounty at all, likely because the informant who had been taking pictures fled when Arlong went down.
As night fell, the sea grew pitch-black. The Going Merry drifted quietly, its lanterns casting faint glows across the water.
Inside the cabin, laughter and clinking glasses warmed the atmosphere.
"Let's welcome Sanji to the crew! Cheers!"
"Cheers!"
They toasted, celebrating Sanji's official joining. With him aboard, Reiner now had both a smoking buddy (Sanji) and a drinking buddy (Zoro).
All he was missing was… cough.
A king's right-hand man, a band of rowdy friends.
"Today was a huge win."
"Yeah—not only did Sanji join, but Reiner also salvaged a fortune!"
"Don't try to bait me, Nami," Reiner rolled his eyes.
The loot they recovered was worth about 50 million Berries altogether.
A bit underwhelming, considering 5,000 pirates had been living on that fleet. But pirates lived dangerously—always squandering money the moment they got it.
Five thousand men, and they'd saved up only 50 million.
"We're close to the Grand Line now."
Nami sipped her drink. "By tomorrow around noon, we should reach Reverse Mountain."
"But… there's also an island nearby, a large town. I think you'll be interested. Should we stop there for supplies?"
"You mean Loguetown?" Sanji asked knowingly. "It's called the 'Town of Beginning and End.' Over twenty years ago, Gol D. Roger was executed there."
"Whoa, that's awesome!" Luffy instantly lit up with excitement.
Reiner also had plans in Loguetown.
Once they entered the Grand Line, his first targets would be the two giants of Little Garden, and then Crocodile.
But without Armament Haki yet, poking at that sand crocodile too soon wasn't safe.
Loguetown wasn't the East Blue's largest city, but thanks to its location by Reverse Mountain and its historical significance, it was unusually prosperous.
It was also crawling with shady characters. Reiner planned to hit the black market there, hoping to buy some Seastone if the rumors about underground groups operating in the city were true.
The night sea was shrouded in heavy darkness, like an endless fog full of solitude and fear.
On the deck of the Merry, the golden lamplight and cheerful voices kept the little ship company.
It wasn't alone.
The white sheep-headed ship sailed steadily onward into the boundless night.I'll carry them wherever they need to go… no matter where that may be.