Kairo D. Arashi chatted with Zephyr for quite some time.
During that time, Kairo D. Arashi had considered whether he should interview Zephyr as well and dig up some juicy gossip about him. But when he thought about it, Zephyr's prime in this world had already passed. After all, he had long since retired from the front lines and become the Marine Headquarters' Chief Instructor. Although he had trained quite a few extraordinary students, his presence in the world was now quite low.
Thus, even if Kairo D. Arashi managed to dig up some gossip from Zephyr, there was no guarantee that it would spread very far!
Of course, the matter of Zephyr losing his arm was absolutely explosive news. But Kairo D. Arashi wasn't about to exploit Zephyr's painful past and spread it around just for the reward of Travel Points. Travel Points were certainly important, but as a traveler, his friends were more important!
So in the end, Kairo D. Arashi abandoned the idea of interviewing Zephyr.
Around noon.
Because some of Zephyr's students had come to visit him, Kairo D. Arashi didn't stay any longer. After saying goodbye to Zephyr, he left the Medical Building with Tashigi.
As soon as they stepped outside, Tashigi stopped and looked pitifully at Kairo D. Arashi. "Mr. Kairo D. Arashi, I'm hungry! Why don't we get something to eat? I know a restaurant with really good food."
"It's noon already?"
Kairo D. Arashi looked around. Seeing that the sun was already beginning to slope westward, he wasn't hungry in the slightest, but he readily agreed anyway. "All right. I want to see just how good this restaurant of yours is."
"This… this is the restaurant you said had really good food?"
A little over ten minutes later, Kairo D. Arashi stood in front of a restaurant, staring blankly at the sign above the entrance.
"Marine Cafeteria?"
"Yep! My favorite food is the cafeteria food!"
Tashigi pulled Kairo D. Arashi toward the cafeteria hall and said excitedly, "Mr. Kairo D. Arashi, we have to hurry. Otherwise, there won't be any seats left!"
As soon as she finished speaking, the two of them entered the cafeteria.
A spacious dining hall, large enough to accommodate thousands of people, immediately came into view.
It was lunchtime, and the hall was already packed with people. Everyone who had come to eat was wearing a Marine uniform. There were officers, commanders, and soldiers, and all kinds of voices blended together into a buzzing din. For a moment, Kairo D. Arashi felt as though he'd gone back to his university days, eating in the school cafeteria!
"Waaah, we're still too late!"
Seeing that the cafeteria was already packed, Tashigi immediately pouted and said aggrievedly, "Looks like we'll have to… Oh, there's still a seat over there!"
Before Kairo D. Arashi could react, Tashigi grabbed his hand and pulled him toward an empty table against the wall on the right side of the hall.
"Wow, nobody's here! We'll sit here!"
When they reached the table, Tashigi first had Kairo D. Arashi sit down, then happily said, "Mr. Kairo D. Arashi, sit here and rest. I'll go get the food!"
With that, Tashigi turned around and ran off to join the queue!
Seeing this, Kairo D. Arashi shook his head and smiled wryly.
Although he hadn't expected the "restaurant with really good food" Tashigi had mentioned to be the Marine Cafeteria, he didn't find anything wrong with it after entering. The atmosphere here was almost exactly the same as when he'd lined up for food in his university cafeteria! He liked this kind of atmosphere.
That said, this cafeteria was much larger than any cafeteria he'd ever visited before. The ceiling in particular was ridiculously high!
Of course, Kairo D. Arashi could understand why. There were several giant commanders in Marine Headquarters, after all, and quite a few people here were absurdly tall. To be precise, most people in the world of pirates were bizarrely proportioned. Some were ridiculously tall, while others were so short they looked downright comical!
Sure enough, not far to his left, a giant commander was sitting at one of the dining tables. Relying on the memories in his mind, Kairo D. Arashi recognized him at a glance as John Giant, a Giant Vice Admiral of Marine Headquarters—a Vice Admiral-level background character and cannon fodder!
Sitting opposite this background character was a middle-aged man wearing a mustard-yellow shirt and trousers, a mustard-yellow hat, and an exceptionally sleazy-looking expression…
Huh? That was certainly a unique sense of fashion!
Wait, why did this guy look so familiar?
He remembered!
This guy was called Chaton, wasn't he? He was also a Vice Admiral, and in the original story, he was one of the candidates for Admiral alongside Momousagi! Although he had barely appeared on screen, Kairo D. Arashi remembered the few things about him quite clearly.
Of course, none of them were particularly important achievements.
It was simply the tragic story of this guy's ridiculously high self-confidence: he had confessed his love to Momousagi a hundred times, only to be rejected a hundred times.
"Mr. Kairo D. Arashi?"
"Wow, it really is you!"
Just as Kairo D. Arashi was about to turn his gaze away from Chaton, a group of men in Marine uniforms suddenly swarmed over to him. Leading them were none other than the Stork brothers!
Looking at Stork and the others who had suddenly rushed over, Kairo D. Arashi smiled and said, "Mr. Stork, what a coincidence!"
"Hahaha, I never thought Mr. Kairo D. Arashi would come to our cafeteria! Brothers, hurry up and bring out all the signature dishes! Oh, right, who's going outside to buy some booze? Put it on my tab! I'm going to have a good drink with Mr. Kairo D. Arashi!"
"Colonel, this is the cafeteria. We're not allowed to drink alcohol here!"
Hearing this, a soldier following behind Stork hurriedly reminded him and promptly offered a suggestion. "Why don't we go eat somewhere outside instead? My treat?"
"I told you to go buy alcohol, so go!"
Stork instantly became displeased. He grabbed the soldier and snarled, "Even if we have to violate regulations today, I'm drinking this booze!"
The soldier didn't dare disobey Stork's order. He nodded repeatedly and turned around, hurrying out of the cafeteria!
After watching the soldier leave, Stork immediately sat down in front of Kairo D. Arashi and grinned. "Mr. Kairo D. Arashi, are you planning to join the Marines this time you came to Marine Headquarters? You're really strong! The way you blocked one of Emperor Kaido's attacks last night was seriously awesome! If it had been us standing in front of Kaido back then, we'd probably all have been smashed into pieces by a single swing of his kanabo! So, if Mr. Kairo D. Arashi joins the Marines, a few of us brothers are planning to talk to Mr. Garp and then serve under you!"
"That's right, that's right! If you join the Marines, Mr. Kairo D. Arashi, you absolutely have to take us brothers with you."
Mr. Swick, the Ant Brother, excitedly picked up the conversation. "If it's Mr. Kairo D. Arashi, Garp would definitely let us come over. Hahahaha… After all, the six of us brothers were able to become Colonels because of you! If you hadn't sold those Devil Fruits to Mr. Garp so cheaply back in the East Blue, we'd probably still be stuck where we were!"
"Don't put it that way!"
Hearing what the Stork brothers said, Kairo D. Arashi slightly furrowed his brows. "Although I did indeed sell the Devil Fruits cheaply, it was Old Man Garp who gave them to you to eat. So the person you should be thanking most isn't me, but Garp!"
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