One Piece: Wudang Bai Ye, Vice-Captain of the Straw Hat Crew

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Aboard the Going Merry – Bai Ye's room.

Inside the [Daoist Codex Realm], Bai Ye was brewing some pills.

If the healing pills and recovery pills he made before were the most basic ninth-grade stuff—mainly for keeping the body nourished...

Then what he was working on now were seventh-grade pills.

They took way longer to make, needed rarer ingredients, and the control over heat and timing had to be spot on.

Thankfully, Bai Ye had maxed-out perception buffs, and the codex realm was full of spiritual energy. After just a few failures, he finally succeeded.

Looking at the crystal-clear pills in the furnace, Bai Ye didn't waste time admiring them. With a wave of his hand, he stored them away.

Because outside the room, the magic array he'd set up was sending him a message—

Those guys were up to something again.

Don't let the anime fool you—Luffy and his crew might seem like they're always having exciting adventures, but in reality, sailing on the open sea can be incredibly boring and repetitive.

Staring at the endless, unchanging ocean day after day can really wear you down.

Normally, Bai Ye and Zoro would pass the time by training.

Nami, being the only girl and not exactly the type to mess around with Luffy, usually just kept to herself.

But this time? Things were different.

After lunch, while Bai Ye and the others went off to do their own thing, Luffy and Usopp started scheming.

Eventually, they came up with the idea to have a cannon-shooting contest—who could shoot farther and more accurately.

Thanks to Bai Ye being willing to throw money around, the Going Merry was now equipped with a cannon on each side.

Usopp, being the crew's sniper, was obviously super into it.

As for Luffy…

As long as he gets to play, he's happy with anything.

So after several rounds of blowing stuff up, not only did Usopp come out on top, but he also got a little surprise.

That "surprise" turned out to be Zoro's two old buddies—Johnny and Yosaku.

Unbeknownst to Luffy and Usopp, one of their cannon shots hit the rock the two were chilling on.

Johnny ended up storming onto the ship, shouting and yelling, only to get smacked down by Luffy in seconds.

Luckily, Zoro came out at that moment and stopped the fight from going any further.

Long story short, after all the chaos…

Johnny brought his partner Yosaku aboard.

Yosaku, who'd been seriously lacking in vitamins, had come down with full-blown scurvy. His hair and teeth were basically all gone, and the he looked half-dead.

Seeing the state he was in, Luffy and Usopp immediately thought it was their cannon that did it.

They dropped to their knees in front of Yosaku, clutching their heads, crying and apologizing like crazy.

That's when Bai Ye finally stepped out.

"You two seriously don't know what scurvy is? Are you that dumb?"

Right then, Nami's voice chimed in too, making Luffy and Usopp look up.

"Did she just call us idiots…?"

Nami came striding over, handed them a few fresh oranges, and said:

"He just needs some vitamin C. Feed him these and he'll be fine."

Zoro let out a huge sigh of relief after hearing that—his buddy could be saved.

——

Sure enough, not long after eating the oranges, Yosaku started recovering right before their eyes. His hair and teeth even started growing back.

Bai Ye couldn't help but mutter, "Gotta love anime logic."

"Big Sis!!!"

Johnny and Yosaku dropped into a deep bow in front of Nami, full of gratitude.

Nami facepalmed. "What the heck kind of nickname is that?"

Luffy and Usopp chimed in from the side:

"Nami, you're amazing!!"

If it weren't for her, those two idiots might really have thought they killed someone.

"This is literally the most basic part of sailing, okay?!"

Nami had no patience left for those two.

"But honestly, I don't know everything either. A lot of issues can come up with your health at sea. That's why you really need a cook on board."

"Making sure everyone gets the right nutrition is part of a cook's job," she added.

After hearing that, Luffy clapped a hand into his palm like he finally got it: "Oh yeah! Bai Ye said something like that before!"

"Exactly," Bai Ye said, picking up the thread. "Eating something and eating well aren't the same thing."

"Ahhh, I get it now~"

After seeing how bad Yosaku got and listening to Nami and Bai Ye, Luffy finally understood how important a cook really was.

"Alright then! Let's go find an awesome cook!!"

Luffy announced it like it was the next great mission.

Hearing that, Johnny and Yosaku—who were busy trying to impress Nami—finally gave the crew a lead.

If you're talking about famous chefs in the East Blue, there's only one place to go.

The Floating Restaurant — Baratie.

Baratie is actually a giant ship used as a restaurant.

It was created by Head Chef Zeff and Sous Chef Sanji, with the dream that no one would ever go hungry on the seas again.

The ship has fish-shaped figureheads at both ends — and those figureheads can switch between two modes.

When the fish fins-shaped platforms rise up, they become battle platforms.

That's why Baratie is also called a "battle restaurant."

Why would a restaurant have fights, you ask?

Well, naturally...

BAM!!!

When Luffy, Bai Ye, and the others just stepped into the restaurant, they saw Changwei was fighting...

Oh no, wait.

They actually saw a chef fighting a customer.

And looking closer, that customer was a Navy Lieutenant!

Bai Ye instantly realized what part of the story this was.

Lieutenant Hobody, nicknamed "Iron Fist," lost face after being disrespected by Sanji, so he tried to cause trouble by slipping a bug into Sanji's soup.

But when he saw Sanji's indifferent attitude, he flew into a rage and smashed the table in front of him with a punch, sending the food flying everywhere.

That, of course, was crossing a line for Sanji.

Without hesitation, Sanji kicked Hobody's ass hard and taught him a lesson.

Sanji said, "Going against a chef at sea is suicide. So listen up."

"Absolutely... absolutely no wasting food."

Luffy and the others overheard this, but each reacted differently.

"Scary!!!" Usopp suddenly felt weak in the knees.

"Can a place like this really get repeat customers?" Nami looked shocked — she'd never seen a restaurant where the chef actually hits customers.

"Just like the legend says!" Johnny said.

"Yeah! The chefs here are all criminals with crazy strength," Joseph added with a knowing look.

Luffy's eyes lit up when he heard Sanji say "don't waste food."

Yeah, the same look he gave Zoro back then.

"Hmph~"

Zoro, for some reason, just didn't like that smoking guy at all.

Bai Ye smiled and looked at Paddy, who had just come over to them.

Paddy was a big, burly guy who cared about money, not people.

So Bai Ye quickly pulled out a thick stack of berries and said:

"Please find seats for my friends here, and by the way, can you send that guy over there to serve us?"

The moment Paddy saw the berries, his eyes lit up.

Though he frowned a bit when Bai Ye said he wanted Sanji to serve them, he quickly led them to their seats enthusiastically.

He shouted toward Sanji, "Sanji, you damn chef, come serve the gods!"

"....."