Walking to a street corner, Will glanced at the large road sign nearby and couldn't help feeling surprised.
"Gourmet City 'Pucci'?"
"I didn't expect to end up here."
At that moment, Nami spotted the sign too. She crossed her arms, pondering. "I wonder if we've strayed from our original magnetic course. It would be great if we had a complete sea chart."
Will smiled faintly. "It doesn't matter. We'll all converge on the same route eventually."
They continued down the street together and quickly noticed that nearly every shop around them was connected to food in some way—restaurants, ingredient stalls, even stores selling tableware and kitchen tools.
"This really lives up to the name Gourmet City… everything here revolves around eating," Nami murmured, eyes wide with unconscious surprise.
The rest of the crew looked equally astonished as they took in the surroundings.
Eneru, however, had started out mildly hopeful about the island. After stretching his Observation Haki across the entire place, he immediately lost interest. He hadn't sensed a single person with truly powerful Haki.
Just then, Carina turned her head with a charming smile. "Will, how about this? You four go find somewhere to eat first. Nami, Robin, and I will scout around for information—see if anything interesting has happened lately that we don't know about."
Nami instantly linked arms with Robin and laughed. "Perfect! The three of us can go shopping together!"
Will stopped, turned around, and thought for a moment. "All right. I'll leave the intel gathering to you three." He raised a hand and pointed at the noodle shop next door labeled 'Ichiraku.' "We'll grab something here first. Just come find us when you're done."
He glanced at Robin and added with a warm smile, "Go on, Robin. Don't worry. You're my crewmate now—you don't have to hide anymore."
Robin felt a sudden wave of relief wash over her. A gentle smile bloomed on her face without her even realizing it. "Understood, Captain Will."
With that, the group split up for the time being. Carina, Nami, and Robin continued down the street while Will and his three companions turned and stepped into the noodle shop.
Inside, they found a table with oversized chairs and sat down. Issho inhaled the rich aroma drifting from the kitchen and nodded with a small smile. "This place is good… very good."
"Oh? You really like noodles, huh?" Eneru remarked, mildly surprised. He pulled an ordinary chair from the table behind them and slid it over for Chopper to sit on.
One of the customers at that table started to turn around with an angry glare, but the moment he saw the three towering, powerfully built men behind him, he quickly faced forward again and lowered his head, pretending nothing had happened.
Will and the others paid no attention to the brief tension. They simply chatted among themselves.
"Heh heh, I really do like noodles," Issho admitted with a faint smile, not bothering to hide his preference. "Soba in particular."
Eneru, now dressed in a casual shirt, nodded in understanding. He had no idea what soba tasted like, but personal taste was personal taste—just like his own love for apples.
The four of them called over the shop owner, a man with a small mustache beneath his nose, and ordered several signature bowls. While they waited, Will kept feeling like he had seen that exact hairstyle and mustache somewhere before.
Eneru suddenly spoke up again, his tone openly disappointed. "It seems not every corner of the Lower Blue Sea has strong fighters. At least on this island, I haven't sensed anyone worth mentioning."
Will and Issho couldn't argue; they had both already scanned the island themselves. Only Chopper looked momentarily surprised—until he remembered how powerful the trio's Observation Haki was. He quickly understood and simply swung his little legs on the chair, waiting for his noodles without asking questions.
The owner happened to be carrying over their order right then. He snorted calmly. "Hmph. You lot must've just arrived in the city, right? You stroll around the streets a couple of times and decide there are no strong people here? Try beating the strongest one first."
Will's eyes lit up. He turned to the owner—the customers called him Aler—and asked loudly, "Hey! Who's the strongest in Gourmet City?"
Aler glanced back calmly. "Obviously the City Lord. You think it's me?"
"City Lord?" Eneru stroked his chin, intrigued. "What's his name?"
Aler immediately understood they were new to these waters. "The City Lord's name is Tartarus Bissett."
"Tartarus?" Will repeated the unusual surname, sensing the man was no weakling.
Aler ignored their reactions and kept talking. "If you're thinking of challenging him, you're out of luck. City Lord Bissett left recently with his Six Demon Generals of Cuisine. Where they went and what they're doing… don't ask me, because I don't know either. Still, my advice is simple: don't go looking for death. The City Lord has taken down several pirates with bounties over 100 million berries."
With that, Aler clearly had no interest in chatting further and returned to his work.
"Interesting," Will muttered, eyes flashing with surprise. "A City Lord who's defeated pirates worth over 100 million berries each… and the Six Demon Generals of Cuisine…"
He hadn't expected such useful information just from stepping onto a random island. Unfortunately, those powerful figures had left right before they arrived. Who knew when they would return?
"Gentlemen," Issho said gently, noticing Will and Eneru lost in thought while Chopper happily slurped his noodles, "since those people aren't on the island right now, perhaps we should focus on eating first."
Will and Eneru snapped out of it, smiled, and dug in with gusto.
As time passed, the other customers in the shop gradually began staring in shock. Even the normally unflappable Owner Aler looked surprised when he brought over another round of massive bowls.
"You three have quite the appetite," he remarked, tone slightly stunned.
Apart from Chopper, whose belly was already full, Will, Issho, and Eneru kept eating steadily. Their appetites were simply on another level compared to ordinary people.
Just then, three beautiful women walked in carrying shopping bags. Under the astonished gazes of every customer, they made their way straight to Will and sat down.
"Will, quick—look at this!"
The moment Nami sat, she pulled a newspaper from the depths of her cleavage and handed it over.
Will set down his chopsticks, took the paper, and before he even registered its warmth, his eyes locked onto the headline.
"Oh? My bounty's jumped to 700 million berries." He flipped further. "And Issho's been given one too—65 million."
"Probably because of what happened in Alabasta," he added.
Issho raised an eyebrow but didn't seem surprised. He had accepted the consequences the moment he chose this path.
"Bounty?" Eneru looked puzzled.
Robin noticed and smiled, patiently explaining the concept to him.
Will kept scanning the paper and suddenly froze. On the edge of the page, several familiar faces were printed.
"Monkey D. Luffy, Captain of the Straw Hat Pirates, Gomu Gomu no Mi user, bounty of 60 million berries…"
"Reason: Caused chaos in the Music Capital 'Miyuzak,' defeated Scratchmen Apoo—one of the Supernova rookies—and his On Air Pirates."
Will wasn't the least bit surprised. Knowing Luffy's personality, it was inevitable he would stir up trouble once he reached the Grand Line.
He continued reading.
"Roronoa Zoro, Straw Hat Pirates crew member, Three-Sword Style swordsman, bounty of 25 million berries…"
"Just as expected—Zoro's there too."
"Next is…"
"Huh? 'Demon Gin'? Straw Hat Pirates crew member?! Bounty of 20 million berries?!"
The first two made perfect sense. But seeing Gin listed as part of the Straw Hats left Will utterly confused.
Did Luffy's crew still run into the Krieg Pirates back in the East Blue? And after they defeated Krieg, did Gin somehow decide to join them for some reason?
That didn't add up either. In Will's memory, Gin had always been fiercely loyal.
After turning the idea over in his head, he gave up. It was pointless to dwell on it. He kept reading the rest of the paper.
Nami and Carina, leaning in close, noticed the shift in his expression. Nami peered at the edge of the page and exclaimed, "Hey? These pirates are from the East Blue, just like us!"
"Really?" Carina took a look and shared what she knew. "I heard the name Zoro mentioned back in the East Blue. He was supposed to be a bounty hunter there—I'm not sure if it's the same guy. And this 'Demon' Gin was pretty famous in the East Blue too. He used to be part of Don Krieg's crew, and his bounty was already 12 million berries back then. As for Luffy… I never heard of him."
Will simply nodded, not reacting much. Nami's eyes sharpened. She could tell he already knew these names, so she asked curiously, "What's up, Will? You seem really interested in them."
Will closed the newspaper—it had nothing else important—and answered in a thoughtful tone, "This guy Luffy really is interesting. Right now, though, he's still an unripe fruit. I'll probably only get truly interested once he's fully grown."
In his heart he added silently, It's just a shame that fruit carries an indescribable 'toxicity'… Otherwise, its flavor would be even better.
Beside him, Eneru had finished listening to Robin's explanation. His eyes now gleamed with interest. "I get it now."
Then his expression soured slightly. "But why do the World Government and the Marines get to decide bounties? Why should those guys put a price on my head?"
To him, a bounty represented a person's general strength level. If he had come down to the Blue Sea earlier, his own bounty should have been over a billion berries by now—same for Will and Issho. Their numbers felt far too low.
Robin had explained that bounties only rose when the World Government or Marines deemed an act especially malicious. Therefore, a bounty was only a rough reference, not a true measure of strength.
Will chuckled at Eneru's obvious disdain for the World Government and Marines. "The reason they issue bounties is actually very simple. They hold the greatest power and influence on the surface of this world right now. At the same time, they possess enough strength that no one can overthrow them—at least not yet. That's exactly why they will inevitably become our enemies and the greatest obstacles to our continued adventure."
At the mention of "power" and "influence," Issho's thoughts drifted to the World Government's hidden deeds. His brows furrowed slightly, and for a moment he even stopped eating his noodles.
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