Pirate: My Piltover technology is far ahead!

Chapter 411 The Straw Hat Crew

"Engineering Corps!"

Troops equipped with cybernetic bodies not only need ordinary medics, but also special "cyborg doctors" to repair damaged parts.

Compared to ordinary combatants, these people can be considered technical soldiers, and repairing a small engine is not difficult for them.

"It's just that the machinery is a bit overloaded. That shouldn't be the case. This model of portable motor is very durable. How could it break down when it's powering such a small boat..."

The engineers glanced at the small boat on the shore that looked like a coffin lid, and couldn't figure out how Hawkeye had managed to break the engine.

According to his inspection, there were no signs of external damage; the damage was simply caused by prolonged use of the internal wiring.

Despite their curiosity, the engineers quickly began repairing the lines, glancing out of the corner of their eyes occasionally at the shore, where two top-tier swordsmen, rarely seen on the high seas, had already begun their duel.

Hawkeye's expression remained cold, his hawk-like gaze fixed on Yixiao's wrist. As a top-tier swordsman, even without using Observation Haki to predict, he could judge his opponent's next move from the movement of their body.

Night's design is somewhat unique, with a cross-shaped gauntlet, but in Hawkeye's hands it looks as if it was tailor-made for him.

Weapons also have their own preferences. When Hawkeye was just beginning to show his talent, this knife was the weapon that accompanied him.

Many people tried to take the black sword from Hawkeye, but without exception, they all became victims of his blade. The deaths of these people and one opponent after another gradually established Hawkeye's reputation as the world's greatest swordsman.

With each swing of his sword, a slash would follow. Compared to his casual attacks when chasing Krieg, Hawkeye was now much more serious.

Hawkeye remained silent throughout the fight; he never called out the names of his moves. Theoretically, as long as the name wasn't mentioned, it was acceptable.

Nobody knows whether this is a normal attack or a special move.

"Gravity Blade - Fierce Tiger!"

Yi Xiao also became serious, and a gravitational wave surrounded the blade as he unleashed a powerful strike forward.

The Extreme Fireline isn't a Black Blade yet, but the sheer power of Ikko's aura is enough to make the blade withstand such intense combat. Black Blades aren't born that way; the swordsmith gives birth to the blade, but it's the clay that wields it that makes it grow. Nourished and nurtured by the aura, every blade, or rather, every weapon, has the potential to become a "Black Blade."

Whether Night had already become a black blade long ago, or whether it was forged into a black blade by Hawkeye, is unknown, but this will not affect Night's reputation as the strongest blade.

This will not change until a newcomer defeats Hawkeye with pure swordsmanship.

Top-tier swords and unparalleled swordsmen clashed time and again on this ordinary beach. Although Issho is a Devil Fruit user and his swordsmanship is closely related to his Devil Fruit ability, Hawkeye doesn't care about that.

He needed to challenge all sorts of sword masters to hone his swordsmanship. This unprecedented fighting style actually helped Hawkeye hone his skills even more. Several hours passed, and the battle between the two was still not over.

The battle was ultimately ended when Hawkeye noticed that the engine had been repaired.

"Let's call it a day. It's rare to encounter a new opponent, and we should have exchanged ideas more, but I still have things to do now."

Hawkeye was the first to sheathe his sword, indicating that he had no intention of continuing the fight.

"Should we continue hunting down those pirates?"

"I suppose so. I don't like giving up halfway. Now that it's started, it has to be completely over. I'll come looking for you again later, Mr. Yixiao."

"Then I will look forward to your arrival. However, I have duties to perform and may not always be available."

"Okay, I understand."

The two did not exchange many words; in their duel just now, they had already communicated in the manner of swordsmen.

The engine was reinstalled on the small boat, and Hawkeye calmly chased after Krieg in the direction he had left.

However, this situation did not last long. After sailing for a while, Hawkeye confirmed that the people on the island could no longer see them, so he drew his knife once again.

He then swung the gun forcefully behind the ship, using the reaction force to launch a wave of seaplanes and accelerate his pursuit.

Some time later, at the Baratie floating restaurant, a small boat with a sheep's head hanging on it was moored, and a boy wearing a straw hat was working hard to pay off his debts.

The boy wearing the straw hat was none other than Luffy, who had embarked on his pirate journey and found several crewmates.

When they arrived here, they encountered Navy Lieutenant Hobbade. Luffy used his Devil Fruit ability to deflect the cannonballs fired by the enemy, but he accidentally deflected them off course, creating a hole in the roof of Baratie's house. In the end, he became a temporary waiter to work and pay off his debts.

The Straw Hat crew has undergone some changes in its composition, with Kuina joining Zoro on the ship due to some unexpected circumstances.

After meeting Sanji, the two returned to Shimotsuki Village without incident, but they didn't stay long before setting sail again with the goal of becoming stronger, challenging one opponent after another in the East Blue.

They had previously arrived in Shells Town, where Zoro rescued Rika, a girl being bullied by Helmeppo, and killed Helmeppo's pet wolf.

In order to prevent the situation from deteriorating further, Zoro did not resist the Navy's capture, but instead made a bet with Helmeppo.

Later, Zoro discovered that Helmeppo had no intention of keeping his promise, so he, Kuina, and Luffy, who had just arrived, stormed the naval base and embarked on the path of a pirate.

After that, they didn't encounter Buggy or fight with him, since Nami wasn't there at all. They went straight to Syrup Village, thwarted Kuro's plot to seize the property, obtained the Going Merry, and Usopp also boarded the ship.

However, even after the order changed, Nami still appeared on the ship, and the root of all this was the rat.

Back then, Gaspard and Rossindi conducted a major anti-corruption campaign in the East China Sea, which not only cleaned up many blemishes but also freed up a large number of positions.

At that time, the rat had not yet been promoted, and took advantage of this gap to become the new branch colonel.

In the original timeline, he used Arlong to amass wealth while keeping the news under wraps, so that the higher-ups in the Navy had no idea what was happening there.

Even without Arlong, Rat's greedy nature hasn't changed. He continues to support other pirates and bandits to achieve his own ends, causing Cocoyasi's life to remain difficult.

When Luffy and his crew arrived here, they clashed with the rat's henchmen, eventually defeating the rat. Nami also boarded the pirate ship at this time.

Besides the incident that happened when Luffy and his crew defeated the rat, it also relates to Nami's dream of drawing a world map.

The ocean has many unknown areas, not even recorded in library books. To fulfill his dream...

She had to go and see for herself.

Now they've arrived here. While Luffy is forced to work, the others are sitting comfortably in the restaurant, enjoying the service provided by their captain.

"I said, are we really going to let him work here for a year?"

"How could that be? Of course not. It's just to teach him a lesson so he'll behave better in the future and not be so impulsive."

Luffy himself didn't have any money, but the others could chip in and they could still raise the money to repair the roof, so he wasn't in a big hurry.

At this moment, Ah Jin also pushed open the door, hoping to get some food from here. As expected, Ah Jin was turned away because he had no money.

In the original timeline, Sanji didn't like seeing people go hungry, which is why he brought food to Gin. Now that Sanji is almost officially the head chef of Piltover, he naturally won't care about Gin here.

He's just a pirate; even if he's hungry and kicked out, no one will pity him.

As for why he went hungry, it can only be said that Krieg himself sowed the seeds of his own misfortune.

In order to stop Hawkeye, he tricked the ship behind him into sinking itself, which foreshadowed his later actions.

A fleet of fifty ships does not have a large food reserve on every ship. For the convenience of transportation, ordinary ships only keep a small amount of fresh water and food, while the rest are stored on special supply ships.

Those ships were slower, so they naturally fell behind when fleeing for their lives. The ships that were ruthlessly abandoned by Krieg and entered the Grand Line either had to be able to fly or abandon ship and head to the Red Line. For pirates, crossing the Calm Belt was their only option.

The journey was extremely dangerous for Krieg, as he was no match for the ferocious sea kings. In the end, only one ship escaped from the entire fleet, while the rest perished in the Calm Belt.

Krieg heard that Zeff had been to the Grand Line and escaped unscathed, so he wanted to cause some trouble here, but Luffy used him as a tool to pay off his debts and ended up fighting with him directly.

Then Hawkeye arrived late, sending Krieg off in his own way and giving the newcomers some lessons.

Luffy and his crew eventually obtained the Grand Line map from Zeff in Baratie and continued their journey towards the Grand Line.

Now, however, they face a new problem.

"I'm so hungry, who should cook today..."

Luffy lay listlessly on the table, seemingly unable to fight.

Although the Straw Hat crew has Navigator, Sniper, and Swordsman, they have lost their cook.

This is undoubtedly torture for Luffy, who has to eat five meals a day. Back in Baratie, he even tried to recruit Zeff, but was ruthlessly rejected.

The rest of the people weren't completely incapable of cooking, but their skills were, to put it mildly, questionable. First, there was Luffy, who was a complete genius at culinary disaster; simply burning down the kitchen was already quite an achievement.

Following closely behind is Kuina. She excels at swordsmanship, but she's terrible at cooking. While her cooking isn't enough to cause food poisoning, it's just bland and tasteless. The only thing she can make is sashimi.

This dish doesn't require cooking skills, just knife skills. As long as the ingredients are fresh enough, you just need to know how to cut them.

Zoro and Kuina are basically on the same level, but Zoro has some skill at grilling, so he can't really cook anything properly.

These days, the Straw Hat crew can only rely on Usopp and Nami to cook.

"Then let me do it..."

"Stop! I really don't want fish and chips anymore, can you make something else...?"

Seeing Usopp volunteer to head to the kitchen, Nami reached out and stopped him. Fish and chips on their own were nothing, but putting them together was not a good omen.

Since leaving Baratie, their tastes have been locked into this area, and even Luffy is getting tired of this kind of food.

Usopp's only expertise lies in this area. The only difference is that he catches different kinds of fish every day. After all, even the best angler can hardly pinpoint the exact type of fish on the open sea.

"I don't know anything else, why don't you do it?"

"Me? I can do it, but there will be an extra charge."

Nami still retains her money-grubbing nature; even her fellow shipmates don't stop her from making a small profit.

"Since we're so close, just give me a thousand Berries each day. That's a really cheap price."

Nami did some calculations on her fingers and finally came up with this number.

"It's not impossible, but if you're going to charge, you should at least prove your culinary skills."

"No problem, then you just wait and see."

Attracted by Bailey, Nami went to the Going Merry's kitchen and started tinkering mysteriously. Her specialties were roast duck and orange marmalade, and she could also cook some home-style dishes, but that speed wasn't enough for this ship.

Given Luffy's appetite, Nami could never finish cooking a day's worth of food, even if she worked herself to death. Yet, less than half an hour after she entered the kitchen, the dishes she brought out covered the entire table.

"Wow! This looks delicious, I'll start eating!"

Upon seeing the food, Luffy's eyes lit up, and he began to eat and drink heartily without a care in the world, frequently praising how delicious it was.

"How come I didn't know you had this skill before? But why is the meat so mushy? How long have you been stewing it?"

"You've only been inside for half an hour, haven't you?"

Usopp examined the broth in the bowl with a spoon, as if something was amiss.

As a fish and chips expert, Usopp was still somewhat unwilling to admit defeat when questioned by someone who was also a non-professional cook.

"You're just imagining things. This kind of meat is actually very easy to stew until tender, you just don't know that."

Nami casually brushed off Usopp, but Usopp noticed a piece of plastic on Nami, which looked like some kind of packaging bag.

Seeing that no one was paying attention to him, Usopp rushed into the kitchen and saw the room piled high with packaging bags.

Piltover produces... braised sea bream meat...

Egg fried rice, large quantity servings for 100 people...

I said, Nami, you're charging us... just to prepare these pre-made dishes for me?

The food produced in Piltover is of high quality; the ingredients are all premium and have been preserved for a long time using processes such as vacuum dehydration. Usopp's concern is not about the food quality.

Instead, he thought he had paid for freshly prepared ingredients, only to find out that the other party was just a reheating employee from start to finish.