One Piece: Mandala Swordsman

Chapter 69 The Night Chef Takes Up His Post at Night

Sea Kings are ferocious rulers of the sea. A body that is hundreds of meters long is nothing but an underdeveloped brat among sea kings. In the calm zone and the deep sea, there are even more unimaginably huge bodies.

Of course, although their existence has brought countless disasters, and Roman himself believes that they are the true rulers of this world, their existence is necessary.

After all, it is an important food source, or rather, a food source for the navy.

Just kidding, the navy not only has a million soldiers, but also giant soldiers, and the amount of food they consume every day is astronomical.

Although the World Government is responsible for all the Navy's expenses, the budget is never enough. As the saying goes, you don't know the cost of living until you're in charge. The Navy, as a massive military organization, has countless expenses, and this is especially true in the Great Pirate Era.

Food costs were second only to weapons costs. However, since sea monsters were included in the diet, the pressure on food expenses has been greatly reduced.

A few branch colonel-level officers working together would be enough to take down an ordinary Sea King. If it were a general-level combatant from headquarters, unless it were an exceptionally large Sea King, they could kill several with a single punch.

The chefs in the kitchen are not only experts in cooking Sea King-type dishes, but also experts in capturing Sea Kings. With these skills, they successfully supported a group of giant soldiers, and the Navy gradually became experts in appreciating Sea King-type dishes.

Sea creatures have tender, nutritious flesh, and when served with sauce, they taste absolutely delicious.

Therefore, sea kings are still a very important presence for the navy, even though they always cause a lot of trouble.

"I think it needs a sprinkle of black pepper; it's still not flavorful enough," Smoker commented bluntly.

"It would be nice with some sauce, or vinegar would be fine too, although their meat is so good that they'd be great eaten raw." Roman said without any hesitation, picking up a piece of meat with his fork.

"Tina is very angry. It was you two who said you wanted to have a midnight snack, so Tina specially made it." After hearing what the two said, Tina turned her head away angrily.

"But aren't you going to eat?" Smoker asked again, seemingly oblivious to the world around him.

"Tina is a bit disgusting."

"It's better to adapt as soon as possible. The situation is already pretty good now; there will be even bloodier scenes to come." After saying that, Roman started eating heartily again.

The sea kings they are eating now are the sea kings that Roman and Mihawk killed together with a slash.

As a delicacy found at sea, Zefa naturally recognized its value, so he cut some fresh slices of meat and transported them onto the warship, where they became a meal for the students to enjoy.

However, it's late at night now, which is obviously not normal mealtime.

But there's no way around it. Days adrift at sea are like plain boiled water—beautiful, but boring. The only time a little lemon is added is when you encounter pirates. But any knowledgeable pirate who sees Zephyr runs away faster than a sea monkey.

Clearly, the current trainees are not yet equipped for pursuit operations; they are still too inexperienced in maneuvering warships.

But today is different.

The pirate captain was a hothead, and his men seemed to have no experience either. Upon seeing the warship, they charged straight at it, and the students immediately sprang into action.

Roman's responsibility was slightly different; her primary objective wasn't to engage the enemy, but to protect her comrades. Protection was far more difficult than killing, especially in the chaos of battle, but this difficulty was only beneficial to Roman.

After all, under normal circumstances, Roman, whose achievements exceed the level of a graduate, should not be here, but she must make up for her "dishonorable background" by connecting with her peers in a more popular way.

There's no way around it; the older the organization, the more they value these things. Although Roman himself doesn't care that much, it's Zephyr and Kuzan's good intention.

One is his current teacher, and the other is his future boss, so Roman naturally has to treat them with 200% dedication.

Therefore, she put a lot of effort into completing it.

Her mobility was considerable, and her Observation Haki helped her to control the overall situation, so thanks to her and Zephyr's joint efforts, no students died.

Smoker fought like a madman, almost hurting his own men, and was warned by Zeff.

However, the slightly younger Tina remained calm, after all, she had already met Mihawk, and the situation was much better than it had been that day.

Incidentally, there are annual death statistics at the Zephyr Elite Training Camp, almost all of which are deaths during Zephyr's combat training. After all, Zephyr is just a general, not a god, and cannot be all-encompassing in a chaotic battle.

Although Zefa could easily solve it by himself, that would defeat the purpose, but this is something every student should be prepared for.

If you still cannot escape misfortune even under the protection of a great general, it can only mean that you are not strong enough or that you are really unlucky. In that case, you will be eliminated naturally. Although this process is described in a lighthearted way, it is a human tragedy when it actually happens, at least for a teacher, and even more so for his colleagues who fought alongside him.

Navy personnel also need to be stained with blood. Strictly speaking, a regular navy officer with many years of service has killed no fewer people than an ordinary pirate.

Now, switching back to the present, the three people who fought during the day are now all covered in dirt.

Even on warships, the bathing conditions aren't that good.

At least all three of them were covered in blood, but that didn't stop Roman from enjoying his meal. Smoker was also quite carefree, enjoying his food on his own. The elemental transformation during the day had taken a lot of his energy, and the amount of dinner was hardly enough to fill him up, so he secretly sneaked into the kitchen for an extra meal.

Although there were only a few slices of meat, Tina prepared them slightly and they were tender enough.

“This is just the beginning. Once we become official naval personnel, no one will protect us anymore.” Smoker understood this very well, and he was prepared for it from the start.

"Tina, are you scared?" Smoker asked provocatively.

“Tina is angry,” seemingly provoking the little girl, Tina immediately picked up Smoker’s plate and stuffed every single piece of tender meat into it.

"Hey, hey, that's mine! I haven't even finished eating yet."

"Who gave you the right to laugh at me? Tina will teach you a lesson."

"A madwoman, even ghosts fear her."

"Smoker, Tina is going to teach you a lesson."

There was a series of crackling sounds.

"What are you two doing?" Zepha rushed over immediately after hearing the commotion.

"Fighting and brawling on the ship, plus extra meals? Looks like your rating is going to drop again." Zephyr mercilessly pulled out his notebook.

"How could this be? It's all your fault, Smoker."

"It's all your fault, now all three of us are going to... wait, where's Roman?"

The two seemed to realize something, looking around, but Roman was nowhere to be seen.

Disloyal!

They must have run away long ago.

This is a sentiment shared by both of them.

"Alright, then the punishment is for you two to cook for all the trainees. Now you can get started, otherwise they won't get breakfast in the morning."

Smoker and Tina are forced to take on the job as late-night chefs.