A cook, vice-captain of the Rocks Pirates?

Chapter 95 The Era of Locus... Has Ended

On a huge ice floe, they found Charlotte Linlin, who was almost frozen to death.

Prometheus and Zeus above her had shrunk to the size of a fist and were on their last breath.

After Lingling drank the soup, her enormous body began to radiate heat again, and the two Homies regained their vitality. She looked at Renn and, for the first time, didn't ask for cake. She just muttered, "Those giants are really troublesome."

In a pile of twisted steel rubble, they found Gatz trapped underneath.

The towering man was covered in blood, his massive anchor broken into three pieces. When he saw Ryan, he looked as aggrieved as a child: "Head Chef... my anchor... is broken..."

Further out at sea, they spotted Silver and Dorum floating.

Silver was the most seriously injured; his shoulder was pierced by Rayleigh's sword, almost crippling half of his body.

After drinking the soup, he simply closed his eyes silently, channeling his internal energy to heal his injuries without uttering a word.

Dorum clutched a fragment of the Azure Dragon's keel and wept uncontrollably, crying, "My ship... my Azure Dragon... it's sunk!"

Raine offered no words of comfort, but simply handed him a bowl of soup.

When the core members of the Rocks Pirates reunited on the wreckage of the half-destroyed Azure Dragon, the sky was already beginning to lighten.

They lost, they lost miserably.

The ship was lost, the crew suffered heavy casualties, and the captain was nowhere to be found.

But they survived, they survived this devastating battle that will go down in history.

This future spur of dominance, capable of dividing the ocean, was pulled back from the brink of hell by this eleven-year-old head chef in the most incredible way.

Soon after, the World Economic News Agency's newspapers spread all over the world.

The front page headline, in the most eye-catching and impassioned font, proclaimed: "The Navy's Hero! Monkey D. Garp single-handedly defeated the Rocks Pirates at God Valley!"

The newspaper featured a photo of Garp standing atop a naval flagship, raising his arms and shouting, with countless cheering naval soldiers in the background.

The report made no mention of the Roger Pirates' appearance or role, attributing all the credit to Garp alone.

The title of naval hero resounds throughout the world.

And behind this truth, obscured by history, lies the wreckage of that dilapidated black behemoth.

Raine was handing the last bowl of soup to Flameflower. The proud former empress had also suffered serious injuries in the battle, but her eyes remained cold.

She took the soup, looked at the new sun slowly rising in the distance, then at the group of monsters around her who, though disheveled, still had flames burning in their eyes, and finally drank it in silence.

The era of Lox has come to an end.

But their era, or rather, the new era led by this divine chef, has only just begun...

……

The dust settled after the Battle of God Valley, but it did not bring peace to this sea. Instead, like the aftershocks of a violent earthquake, it triggered even more turbulent undercurrents.

The World Government promoted the Navy's victory with unprecedented force, and Garp's name was elevated to a god-like status, becoming an idol worshipped by countless young people and the embodiment of justice.

The Rocks Pirates became synonymous with evil, and their remnants were put up with exorbitant bounties. The Navy's warships, like sharks smelling blood, launched a frenzied manhunt across the seas.

All of this was both distant and intimately relevant to the people aboard the wreckage floating in the unknown sea.

It's been three days.

Three days have passed since that great battle.

Thanks to the miraculous cooking of Renn, everyone's injuries have been mostly healed.

Newgate regained his power to shatter space, Linlin's Homies regained their former vitality, Gatz's brute strength was even greater than before, and Silver's wounds had scabbed over, but he was temporarily unable to engage in high-intensity combat.

However, physical recovery cannot heal the inner wounds.

A ship can be rebuilt if it's lost.

If a companion dies, you can find another one.

But without its captain, the pirate crew, united by Rocks' absolute domineering nature and ambition, lost its sole soul.

A suffocating atmosphere hung over the wreckage, heavier than the smoke from the Valley of the Gods.

No one spoke; everyone was preoccupied with their own thoughts.

Gatz was holding a huge steel pipe he had found in the ruins, trying to turn it into a new weapon, but he was always distracted.

Dorum dives into the sea every day to salvage the wreckage of the Azure Dragon, trying to find a trace of its former glory in those cold steel fragments.

Flameflower remained aloof, sitting on the ship's railing, gazing into the distance, but a hint of confusion had crept into the depths of her cold eyes.

Silver was wiping his spear, which bore a scratch left by Rayleigh. He wiped it over and over again, as if trying to erase the shame of defeat along with it.

Newgate and Linlin, two powerful beings second only to Rocks, each occupied a corner of the wreckage, silently confronting each other like two lurking beasts, scrutinizing each other and the precarious future of this pirate crew.

Finally, on the evening of the fourth day, the oppressive silence was broken by a sharp, piercing laugh.

"Mama mama..."

Charlotte Linlin stood up, her massive body casting a huge shadow that enveloped everyone.

"Rocks, that idiot, is dead. This pirate crew can't be without a captain."

Her gaze swept over everyone present, finally settling on Newgate, her eyes revealing undisguised ambition and greed.

"From today onwards, I am the new captain of this ship! You all must listen to me!"

Lingling's declaration was like a spark thrown into a hot oil pan, instantly igniting the tense atmosphere.

"What a joke!"

Gatz was the first to jump up. Although he was also afraid of Lingling, his admiration for Rocks made it impossible for him to accept this fact.

"There can only be one captain, and that belongs to Lord Rocks! He's just missing; he'll definitely be back!"

"Missing? Hahaha!"

Lingling laughed loudly, "Stop fooling yourselves! With an explosion like that, he would have been blown to pieces long ago! Right now, I'm the strongest here, so the captain's position is naturally mine!"

"You're the strongest?"

A deep voice rang out, and Newgate slowly stood up, his mountain-like body exuding an equally imposing aura.

"Gulalalalala... Lingling, have you forgotten who took your Prometheus and Zeus back from me?"

Newgate's words carried a hint of dangerous warning.

Lingling's face instantly darkened. She remembered that after the battle of God Valley, when she was on the verge of death, it was Newgate who returned her two Homie cores to her.

"so what?!"

Lingling retorted angrily, "That's what you owe me! If you men weren't so useless, how could we have lost so badly!"

"If you lose, you lose."

Newgate's voice turned cold: "Now is not the time to argue about who should be captain, but to think about how we, the remnants of this army, are going to survive."

"To live? What a cowardly thought!"

A crazed glint flashed in Lingling's eyes.

Chapter 96 Parting ways

"Once I become captain, we'll rob and kill! We'll trample the Navy and the World Government under our feet! We'll build a nation that belongs only to me! The Kingdom of All Nations!"

"What I want is not a country."

Newgate shook his head, his gaze sweeping over Gatz, Silver, Dorum, and even the reclusive Flameflower, his eyes softening.

"What I want is family."

"family?"

Lingling scoffed, as if she had heard the funniest joke: "What's the use of something so weak? Can you eat it?"

"Different road non-phase plan."

Newgate said no more, but he stuck the broken naginata into the deck to show his stance.

Two equally terrifying Conqueror's Haki clashed violently above the wreckage, crackling black and red lightning and causing the already fragile ship to groan under the strain.

A civil war that will determine the fate of the remaining members of this pirate crew is about to break out.

"enough."

Just then, a calm voice rang out, not loud, but clearly reaching everyone's ears.

It's Rennes.

He came out of the kitchen carrying a huge tray.

There were no delicacies on the tray, only a few bowls of steaming, seemingly ordinary white porridge, and a few dishes of dried seafood meat floss and pickled vegetables.

Everyone's eyes were attracted.

They saw Ryan walk between Newgate and Lingling and place the tray on a relatively flat deck.

He ignored those two powerful auras of Conqueror's Haki that were enough to terrify ordinary people, as if they were just passing through a gentle breeze.

"time to eat."

Raine's voice was calm and unwavering.

"You have to fill your stomach before you can fight."

This incongruous statement caused a strange easing of the tense atmosphere.

Lingling looked at the bowl of steaming white porridge and said disdainfully, "This kind of thing? It doesn't even deserve to be called rice?"

"You can skip it."

Ryan didn't look at her, but simply handed a bowl of porridge to Gatz next to him.

Gatz hesitated for a moment, but then took it.

He now has blind faith in Ryan's cooking skills; even a bowl of plain porridge must have some magic about it.

He took a sip.

The next second, Gatz's eyes widened suddenly.

It was a feeling that cannot be described in words.

The rice grains are cooked to perfection, melting in your mouth. The rich aroma of the rice oil blends perfectly with the sweetness of the rice grains, transforming into the purest and warmest power that slides down your throat into your stomach.

That warmth instantly dispelled the depression, confusion, and unease of the past few days, as if I had returned to my most carefree childhood, to the simplest bowl of rice porridge my mother cooked for me by the stove.

This tastes like home.

"Woo..."

Gatz, a burly man, actually had tears in his eyes.

Seeing Gatz's exaggerated reaction, Lingling picked up a bowl with some skepticism.

The moment the porridge entered her mouth, her massive body shuddered violently.

She seemed to see herself as a child, living with nuns and other children in Elbaf.

Although she was always getting into trouble during that time, it was the happiest and most blissful period of her life.

This bowl of porridge awakened the memories she longed for most and feared deep within her heart.

At this moment, a crack appeared in her heart, which had been hardened by desire and ambition.

Newgate also picked up a bowl, took a sip, and saw his own turbulent childhood and his boundless longing for his family.

Silver took a sip and saw his past of being abandoned.

Flame Flower took a sip and saw the man she both loved and hated.

This is no longer just a simple bowl of porridge; it is a bowl of memories that Renne has simmered together, imbued with the meaning of food, and infused with everyone's memories and emotions.

For a moment, only suppressed, soft sobs could be heard above the wreckage.

A civil war that was about to break out was averted by a bowl of porridge.

Memories are like scalding porridge, burning the soul of everyone who enters the throat.

When the last bowl of porridge was finished, the atmosphere on the wreckage was no longer tense, but rather shrouded in a complex and heavy emotion.