A cook, vice-captain of the Rocks Pirates?

"Black Emperor - Starburst!"

He unleashed a punch imbued with all his domineering aura and gravity, slamming it fiercely into the melted gap!

Boom!

A deep, muffled roar emanated from the Crystal King Crab's body, followed by countless rays of multicolored light bursting forth from the cracks in its body, as if a sun had exploded within it.

The next second, the guardian that had occupied the Crystal Garden for countless years shattered its massive body after a violent tremor, turning into countless crystal shards that scattered across the sea.

A perfect crystal, the size of a fist and radiating a soft glow, flew out from the shattered core and was caught in Rocks' hand.

"Success!"

Gatz roared excitedly.

However, just as they were celebrating their victory, a series of dark, phantom-like slashes silently attacked from all directions, targeting Newgate and Linlin, who had just been exhausted, as well as Lox, who was holding the Heart of Eternity!

"Finally couldn't hold back and made a move, you rat hiding in the back?"

Lockes snorted coldly, not even turning his head, and with a backhand swing, the immense repulsive force dispersed most of the slashes.

However, several strikes still managed to break through the defenses and reach the others.

At this critical moment, a silver figure appeared before everyone like a ghost.

"Shadow Thousand-Layer Spear!"

Silver wielded his spear as a dense, impenetrable silver barrier, blocking every stray strike.

Chapter 82 Promotion: Unparalleled Culinary Skills!

The phantom figure of Baron Ryderfield leaped out of the submarine, hovering in mid-air with a hint of surprise on his face.

"Oh? You reacted quickly. Looks like I underestimated you."

"The solitary red?"

Newgate looked at the man who had suddenly appeared and recognized him.

"You want a piece of the pie too?"

"No, it's not about taking a share."

Redfield elegantly adjusted his monocle, a confident smile on his face: "I'm here to take it all."

His aura suddenly surged, becoming in no way inferior to that of Lox and Newgate.

"Perfect timing, now that we've finished that big crab, you'll be our dessert."

Lox tossed the Heart of Eternity to Renn, cracking his knuckles, his eyes blazing with fighting spirit.

A top-level battle for supremacy seems imminent.

But at that moment, everyone smelled an unprecedented, wondrous fragrance that seemed to elevate even the soul.

Raine had somehow returned to the kitchen. He placed the Heart of Eternity in the center of a crystal pot, and then arranged the freshest crystal king crab meat and roe he had just hunted around it.

He did not light the fire, but instead dripped a drop of his own blood onto the Heart of Eternity.

hum-

The Heart of Eternity shone brightly, and an energy of extreme purity surged forth, instantly cooking the surrounding crab meat and roe at a low temperature!

Streaks of iridescent light, like the aurora borealis, rose from the pot, and the aroma caused everyone present, including the arrogant Redfield, to stop what they were doing and reveal expressions of rapture.

"My dish is called Heart Light Rainbow."

Raine's voice rang out calmly.

"To celebrate the upcoming promotion, everyone is welcome to eat their fill today."

That meal became a legend that everyone could never surpass.

Redfield ultimately couldn't resist the temptation and, after being invited by Lockes to eat first and then fight, reluctantly boarded the ship.

When he took his first bite of the crab meat, which seemed to be made of light, this legendary pirate from the future shed two lines of tears. He seemed to see his long-lost youth and companions.

Ultimately, this conspiracy, which was supposed to be a trap, turned into a bizarre maritime gourmet exchange.

After a hearty meal, Redfield looked at the Rocks Pirates, who seemed to have improved even further, and then at the child calmly wiping the kitchen utensils. Finally, he shook his head with a wry smile and simply drove away in his submarine.

He knew that with this chef around, he would never be able to wait until the monsters were both severely injured.

The moment he left, the long-awaited system notification sounded in Renn's mind.

[Ding! Detected that the host has cooked the legendary ingredient Eternal Heart and the mythical ingredient Crystal King Crab, resulting in a massive boost to all members of the Rocks Pirates and 'Lone Red' Barolorick Redfield, granting a huge amount of experience points!]

[Ding! Master-level cooking experience points are full (2,000,000/2,000,000), currently undergoing promotion...]

[Promotion Successful! Congratulations, host, your culinary skills have been upgraded to—Peerless Level!]

[Peerless Culinary Skill: Following the Way of Nature, the host's understanding of cooking has transcended the level of technique and entered the realm of Tao. A grain of sand contains a world, a leaf contains a Bodhi tree; even the most ordinary ingredients can be transformed into supreme delicacies in the host's hands.]

[Ding! Congratulations, host, on advancing to the Peerless level! Your mental strength and physical constitution have been greatly enhanced, unlocking a brand new exclusive domain—the Kingdom of Food!]

[Food Kingdom (Beginner): The host can create a domain with a radius of fifty meters centered on themselves. Within this domain, the host is the rule, and can arbitrarily change the palatability of substances within it, such as making steel as soft as tofu or air as viscous as soup.]

[Meanwhile, friendly units within the area will continuously gain Hunger and Invigorate effects, while enemy units will constantly feel Hunger and Exhaustion. (Note: This ability consumes a large amount of resources; please use it with caution.)]

[Ding! Congratulations, host, on advancing to the Peerless level! You are rewarded with 300000 Cooking Points, unlocked the Peerless level exclusive exchange list in the system shop, and obtained one Peerless level recipe: Classic of Mountains and Seas - Mythical Beasts Edition.]

A massive amount of information unfolded in Renn's mind like a cosmic Big Bang. His consciousness seemed to break free from the constraints of his body, resonating in a strange way with the sea and the world.

He could feel the salinity of every drop of seawater, hear the breathing of volcanoes on distant islands, and see the trajectory of light as it travels through the atmosphere.

When Renn opened his eyes again, his gaze remained calm, but beneath that calm lay a profound insight into all things.

Rocks and Newgate exchanged a glance, both seeing horror in each other's eyes.

They sensed that although the appearance of the man before them had not changed, the essence of his life seemed to have undergone some kind of leap, becoming as unfathomable as this ocean.

"Head chef, you..."

Gatz scratched his head, feeling an instinctive sense of awe in the face of Ryan that he usually felt when facing a captain.

Raine didn't explain, but simply picked up a piece of alloy that had been broken by the Crystal King Crab from the deck and gently squeezed it.

To everyone's astonishment, the incredibly hard special alloy was kneaded and deformed like dough in his fingertips, eventually transforming into a lifelike miniature kebab model.

"My understanding of power has just deepened a little."

Ryan casually tossed the model aside and said calmly.

This is no longer just a little bit.

This is a qualitative change!

The members of the Rocks Pirates looked at Rein, and an absurd thought popped into their minds at the same time.

On this ship, the person you should least mess with is probably not the captain, but the seemingly harmless head chef.

……

Meanwhile, in the Holy Land of Mary Geoise, between powers.

Five elderly men, their auras as obscure as an abyss, sat around a round table, the atmosphere heavy as if frozen for millennia.

Before them lay a thick stack of top-secret reports detailing all the Rocks Pirates' operations over the past two years.

"They outwitted the wise general Crane... fought Zephyr and Sengoku to a draw, and... according to the latest CP0 intelligence, they just encountered the Lone Red Redfield in the Crystal Garden, not only escaping unscathed, but even the legendary guardian Crystal King Crab became their meal."

Holding the first generation Kitetsu, the bald Five Elders read the report in a hoarse voice, and with each line read, the temperature in the room seemed to drop a degree.

"Most importantly, according to reports from our informants in the underworld, the Rocks Pirates' members are growing at a rate that is completely beyond what is normal."

The Five Elders, with their long white beards, said in a deep voice, "Two years ago, they were just a relatively threatening pirate crew. Now, each of them possesses strength comparable to, or even above, that of a Marine Admiral. This is absolutely not normal!"

"The problem lies with that chef!"

The blond Five Elders slammed their fists on the table, their eyes filled with undisguised killing intent.

Chapter 83 The God's Chef, Bounty 30 Billion Berries

"All intelligence points to him! That chef named Rein possesses some kind of Devil Fruit ability that can infinitely strengthen his companions through cooking! His existence has already disrupted the balance of power!"

"The will of D, coupled with this unprecedented auxiliary ability... if left unchecked, history from eight hundred years ago will repeat itself!"

"Can't wait any longer."

The five elders, each wielding a knife, stood up, their eyes as cold as knives.

"We must resort to the ultimate means to uproot this malignant tumor that has the potential to overturn the world!"

"Pass down the order to gather all naval forces. At the same time, contact Gol D. Roger and tell him that Rocks' existence is not only a threat to us, but also the biggest obstacle in his path!"

"We will prepare a grand, irresistible stage for them on this vast ocean, a... final graveyard!"

The Five Elders' decision foreshadows the imminent unfolding of a massive conspiracy that will shake the world.

The shock to the world soon reached the Azure Dragon in another way.

That day, a newsbird, in a near-suicidal manner, screeched as it threw a stack of brand-new bounty posters onto the deck, then fled for its life without looking back.

When Gatz curiously picked up the few beautifully printed bounty posters that still smelled of fresh ink, the entire Azure Dragon fell into a deathly silence, followed by a deafening burst of maniacal laughter.

The reward amount saw an unprecedented surge, enough to silence the entire world.

[Rocks D. Giebeck: Bounty 5,049,000,000 Berry!]

(Criminal charge: The crime of subverting the world; its very existence is the ultimate provocation against the World Government!)

Edward Newgate (Whitebeard): Bounty 4.88 billion Berries!

(Criminal charge: Possesses the power to destroy the world, the Wings of Rocks, extremely dangerous!)

[BIG MOM Charlotte Linlin: Bounty 4.53 billion Berry!]

(Criminal charge: A walking natural disaster, whose destructive power rivals that of ancient weapons!)

Even Gatz, Silver, and Dorum have had their bounties surpass one billion, officially joining the ranks of great pirates.

The most eye-catching thing is the bounty on Renn's head.

In the photo, he is calmly holding a pot of dish that emits a rainbow of colors, with a shattered crystal king crab in the background.

[God's Chef Raine: Bounty 30 billion Berries!]

[Criminal Charge: Heart of the Rocks Pirates, ability unknown, suspected of possessing a Devil Fruit ability to create miracles, strategic threat level—equivalent to Captain Rocks! Must be captured alive, at all costs!]

This figure and this evaluation made Ryan the world's highest-paid chef.

"Hahaha! Three billion! Looks like those old guys in the World Government finally know their stuff!"

Gatz held his new bounty poster, grinning from ear to ear.

Rocks looked at his bounty, his smile filled with an arrogant disdain for the world.

He casually tossed aside his bounty poster, his gaze piercing through the endless waves, looking towards the distant horizon, where there seemed to be an island hidden by the gods.

"My lords, the celebratory feast may begin."

Locke's voice wasn't loud, but it reached everyone's ears clearly, carrying a sense of impending doom.

"After we finish this meal, we'll go and drag those self-proclaimed gods off their thrones!"

……

The controversy surrounding the bounty order, like a boulder thrown into the sea, has left ripples that have lingered for a long time.

On the Azure Dragon, the heat of a celebratory banquet was even hotter than the sunshine in the Crystal Garden.

Gatz was running around on the deck, showing off his new bounty of 1.2 billion Berries to everyone he met.

Newgate's laughter echoed through the sky as he affixed the bounty poster bearing his imposing figure to the barrel, declaring it the only designated label for the finest vintage he had ever tasted, and anyone who dared touch it would taste the tangible fruit of the trembling fruit.

Charlotte Linlin has little concept of money, but she knows that the 4.5 billion bounty on her head is a huge sum.

So she confidently ordered all the desserts from Ryan for the next month, ranging from molten chocolate volcano cake to deep-sea pearl mousse, with no two being the same.

Ryan simply nodded calmly and then silently wrote it down in his notebook.

"Charlotte Linlin's symptoms of high-calorie sweets addiction are worsening. New low-sugar, high-energy alternatives need to be developed to prevent structural obesity in the ship."

Only Rocks sat alone at the bow of the ship, toying with the wanted poster bearing his arrogant smile, but his face showed little joy.