A few days earlier, when Smoker had run into Rowan in that tavern, he had already pegged him as a troublemaker.
So he had stepped up and given him a warning.
Who would've thought this guy had no sense of fair play at all? He suddenly exploded with Conqueror's Haki and knocked Smoker unconscious on the spot.
When Smoker woke up, he discovered that Rowan hadn't just knocked him out.
He had taken out the entire town of Loguetown.
Humans, animals—everything had been caught in it and passed out.
It was the first time Smoker had ever seen Conqueror's Haki that powerful.
But it had also caused huge trouble for Loguetown, because when people started waking up, the whole town fell into chaos. Some even thought they had all come down with some strange disease.
Smoker had spent a great deal of effort calming the townspeople down and telling them it had all just been an accident.
Because they trusted the Marines, the people of Loguetown eventually accepted that explanation and things returned to normal.
But what Smoker truly hadn't expected was that the bastard responsible for all of it would actually come back.
The moment he got word, Smoker rushed over as fast as he could and finally intercepted the bastard outside the market, asking that same question.
"And why shouldn't I come back?" Rowan looked at Smoker in surprise. "I'm not a wanted criminal."
Seeing the innocent look on Rowan's face, Smoker nearly punched him.
He had never seen someone so shameless.
"Don't tell me you've already forgotten what you did in Loguetown a few days ago," Smoker said in a nasty tone. "Do you have any idea that, based on what you did that day, I could have you put on a wanted list?"
With Smoker's reminder, Rowan finally remembered that a few days ago, after getting that push from Smoker, he had awakened Conqueror's Haki and accidentally knocked out every resident in Loguetown.
At the time, they had dusted off their hands and left everything for someone else to clean up.
Now that he thought about it, that really was kind of bad form.
Rowan admitted that he had handled it poorly, and promptly apologized to Smoker.
"Sorry about that. It was my first time awakening Conqueror's Haki, so I couldn't control it properly."
"Your first time?"
Smoker's eyes widened in disbelief. Seriously? On his very first awakening, he had managed to knock out the entire population of Loguetown?
That was absurd.
Smoker had trained at Marine Headquarters. He had seen enough of the world to know what it meant when someone's first burst of Haki was already that powerful.
A monster.
No—more like a monster among monsters.
If they actually started fighting here, all of Loguetown would suffer for it.
With that thought, Smoker suppressed the urge to attack and coldly demanded, "Talk. Why did you come back this time? Loguetown shouldn't have anything that would interest someone like you."
Rowan lifted the bags of food in his hands. "Has it occurred to you that maybe I came here to buy supplies?"
Smoker's old face reddened slightly. He had been so wary of Rowan that he had asked a stupid question.
But he quickly suppressed that flicker of embarrassment and said with a stony face, "Once you've bought your supplies, leave. You're not welcome here."
Rowan nodded. "Fine. I'm leaving, then."
Smoker stepped aside. Rowan led the others past him at an easy pace, nodding slightly as he passed.
He was sure there was no hostility in that gesture, but for some reason, Smoker's expression suddenly turned ugly.
His eyes locked onto Rowan like he wanted to devour him whole.
What the hell was wrong with him now?
Rowan didn't understand, but he couldn't be bothered to argue about it. He quickly left with the others.
Back on the ship, it was almost time for dinner. Cosette put on her chef's coat and asked Rowan seriously,
"Lord Rowan, is there anything in particular you'd like for dinner tonight?"
"I heard your beef and potatoes are really good. How about making that?"
Rowan had suddenly remembered that in the story, Cosette got dragged into conflict with Sanji's brothers because of a dish of braised beef and potatoes. One of Sanji's brothers had called it disgusting.
But later, Sanji said it was actually good.
So Rowan really wanted to know what that dish tasted like.
"Beef and potatoes?" Cosette looked a little surprised. "I don't know where Lord Rowan heard about that, but I'll give it everything I've got."
"Need any help?" Rowan asked.
"No, no." Cosette quickly waved him off and pushed him out of the kitchen.
This was her battlefield. There was no way she was going to let some clueless outsider interfere.
So Rowan simply returned to the sitting room and waited.
A little over an hour later, Cosette came out carrying a large pot.
"Braised beef with potatoes. Please enjoy, Lord Rowan—and everyone else as well."
Rowan clapped his hands and said, "Come eat with us, Cosette. Sit down and join us."
"There's no need." Cosette refused instinctively. Back at the Vinsmoke household, the head chef was not allowed to dine with the family.
"It's fine. This isn't the Vinsmoke family. It's livelier when everyone eats together."
After Rowan insisted several times, Cosette finally sat down. Robin, Kanae, and Karin sat down too.
Only one person was the exception.
Minato Namikaze.
"Hm? Lord Minato isn't eating with us?" Cosette asked curiously.
Minato smiled. "No need. Please, go ahead."
Rowan explained, "Minato isn't alive. He has no sense of taste, no physical sensations, and doesn't need to eat. But we're working on that problem right now."
Hearing that Minato wasn't alive, Cosette froze for a moment, then seemed to think of something.
"Is it because of a Devil Fruit power?"
"No, it's ninjutsu."
"Ninjutsu?" Cosette had never heard of such a power.
Rowan said, "A very strange kind of technique. You'll understand later. Eat first."
He scooped himself a steaming bowl of braised beef and potatoes, paired it with a heap of fragrant rice, and dug in enthusiastically.
Just like Sanji had said, it really was delicious.
In fact, Rowan felt that Cosette's cooking right now was still better than Sanji's.
Of course, Sanji was one of the main characters. After joining the Straw Hat crew, both his cooking and his combat ability had improved by leaps and bounds.
By the time Cosette appeared, the manga had already run for hundreds of chapters.
At that point, Sanji's strength and culinary skill were on a completely different level from before.
So surpassing Cosette later on was only natural.
But right now, Cosette's cooking really could compete.
At the very least, Rowan was more than satisfied.
~~~
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