One Piece: Dream of Immortality

Chapter 545 - Trouble in the Kitchen

"Kaido's dead!"

It wasn't clear who the first one to shout that was, and it didn't really matter who.

The word spread around Onigashima castle like wildfire, only /this fire wasn't put out by the combined efforts of Raizo's storage scrolls and Jinbe's fishman karate, nor would they want to if they could.

Without King, Queen, or even Jack to reassure the remaining Beast pirates that this was impossible, they quickly changed their objectives to getting away instead of hunting down the intruders.

"Do you hear that, Orochi, Kanjuro?" Kin'emon asked. "They're saying that Kaido is dead."

"I-I don't believe it!" Orochi said. "Best you let me go instead of wasting more time on me! I didn't even want to do any of it, it was Kaido who forced me! I bet he's tired right about now, you'll actually stand a chance against him if you go now!"

"Shut /up, Orochi," Kanjuro groaned. "It's over. You aren't going to beg them to death any time soon, no matter how hard you try."

"You're awfully calm, Kanjuro," Kiku said, looking even more tired than their two tied up prisoners.

"I've been ready for death for a long time now," Kanjuro answered simply.

"I suppose you would be. You were even prepared to boil with us to maintain your farce," Denjiro spat.

"I'm glad we captured you two alive," Ashura Doji chimed in with a dark look. "You don't deserve to die in the same way as Oden-sama, but I'm sure we can think of something even more creative than boiling in oil."

"I believe Cherry-dono said something about killing one of her foes in Dressrosa by making him eat a second devil's fruit," Kin'emon rubbed his chin. "That ought to be an appropriate punishment, hm?"

Orochi began to quake in his sandals. Kanjuro rolled his eyes.

...

Zoro had to physically push Chopper away from him.

The reindeer doctor really was too much of a fusser. Doesn't he know that Cherry can fix him up in the time it takes her to snap?

So he had 2nd and 3rd degree burns over more than 30% of his body. Big deal.

That shitty cook was probably in even worse shape than he was.

Speak of the devil...

"Yo, shitty cook! Did you manage to bag one of the big fish or did you hide the whole time?" Zoro asked. Some mean spirited banter was exactly what he needed to wind down from a tough fight.

"Mission accomplished," Sanji said. "I require minor medical attention."

Chopper spotted his next victim and zipped over to him. However, Sanji's odd mannerism wasn't lost on him or any of the other crew lingering around.

"Is something wrong, Sanji?" Nami asked, a worried furrow to her brow.

"I have nothing to report," Sanji replied curtly.

Zoro was a bit of a dummy when it came to this sort of thing, but even he could see that something was up with the shitty cook.

Nami seemed to have a much better idea than he did, thankfully, as he saw her eyebrows shoot up and nearly merge with her hairline. Zoro could see that meddlesome glint in her eye that said this wasn't over, but she left it be for now.

How troublesome.

...

It took a bit, but eventually the action started to die down and the crew all managed to come together.

Cherry was the last to arrive. Even if the enemy had been routed, some were still rather stubborn and needed to be put in their place.

If they were lucky, the surviving Beast Pirates would be put to work instead of put to death. There was a lot of work that needed to be done to get Wano back to its former state and they needed every pair of hands to do it.

As bitter as the samurai army was, they agreed with her assessment and decided against just slaughtering the lot out of spite and vengeance.

The mood was a bit weird when she finally joined up with the others though.

"What's up?" Cherry asked Robin.

"Sanji is acting strange. When I greeted him, he barely even acknowledged me. He's been the same way with everyone," Robin explained.

Cherry raised an eyebrow and focused her attention on the blond in question.

Sanji stood ramrod straight off in the corner of the room. Even more odd was that he was wearing that Raid Suit that he was supposed to hate. She'd understand if he wore it in battle or something, but she'd think that he would want out of it as soon as possible in that case.

She didn't need to be a genius to think the two oddities were related, so she sidled up to Reiju and aske, "Did Sanji... you know?"

Reiju tore her eyes away from her brother. "I'm... not sure. Even my other brothers aren't like... /this."

"Hm," Cherry hummed. She had to agree with that assessment. Ichiji, Niji, and Yonji were nearly emotionless and lacked empathy, but they were still pretty lively despite that.

"Sanji! I'm hungry!" Cherry shouted across the room at him. "Cook something spicy for me!"

Sanji turned his head to look at her, his eyes hidden behind the dark sunglasses of his Raid Suit. For a moment, Cherry thought that he would straight up refuse. Instead, he took off at a full sprint out of the room.

Not /really knowing how this was going to turn out, most of the crew made to follow. Pudding didn't even hesitate, rushing after him the moment he started moving.

Sanji ended up leading them to a kitchen, which was a bit of a relief. It wasn't quite as nice as the one of the Thousand Sunny, and certainly not as clean, but it was functional.

Sanji was a whirlwind of motion and was making quite the mess. He came out of the kitchen not half a minute after he entered and handed Cherry a plate with flash seared, but still raw, chicken fillets with a heap of every spice from the rack piled on top.

Sanji had followed her demand in the most literal and efficient way he could think of. He had "cooked" the chicken and made it "spicy". Looking at this piss poor attempt, Cherry was mildly surprised that he hadn't just fried the spices by themselves.

Just to be sure, Cherry did the unforgivable; she tipped the plate and dumped the chicken on the ground. Sanji said not a word, nor did he flinch.

This sorry sight naturally filled the observers with dread. This wasn't just a mockery of cooking, it was a /waste of food!

"This is freaking me out, guys..." Usopp said.

"Sanji..." Pudding looked lost.

"That just ain't right," Franky shook his head.

"Is there any way to fix this?" Nami asked, turning to Reiju. "Is there a way to help him?"

"Cherry helped me, but my situation wasn't quite the same..." Reiju answered.

Many hopeful eyes fell onto Cherry.

"Indeed, I can help him," Cherry nodded.

They all sighed in relief.

"But I won't," Cherry added.

"""WHAT?!?!?!""" they all exclaimed in shock.