A cook, vice-captain of the Rocks Pirates?

A barely perceptible glint of heat flashed in Raine's eyes.

According to ancient food records, a peculiar orchid called the Tears of Truth grows near Ohara in the Western Sea.

"This orchid itself is inedible, but its pollen is the main ingredient in a special seasoning that I call the Salt of Honesty."

"Just a little bit of this can make the taster unable to lie for a short period of time and can see the most authentic memory of the ingredients themselves."

"Memories of seeing ingredients?"

Gatz felt his brain wasn't working properly.

"Yes."

Renn nodded, his gaze becoming profound.

"I want to taste what kind of story it will tell me after the historical text is sprinkled with this salt."

The idea of ​​using one ingredient to cook another conceptual ingredient sent a chill down the spines of all the monsters present.

Ignoring the unpredictable weather and undercurrents of the Grand Line, the colossal tortoise glided smoothly across the azure sky like a moving continent.

When its mountain-like form appeared at the entrance to Upside Down Mountain, even the turbulent currents that could tear ordinary ships to shreds seemed to be smoothed out by an invisible force, obediently making way.

The process of entering the Western Sea was unbelievably smooth.

This sea, known as the weakest sea, is completely different from the violent chaos of the New World.

With a gentle sea breeze and bright sunshine, you can occasionally see groups of dolphins chasing and playing around the boat, creating a peaceful and tranquil scene.

"Wow...it feels really nice here, yoi."

Marco stood on the giant tortoise's head, stretched, and felt much of the tension from the past few days ease.

"Yes, even the seawater smells sweeter than the New World."

Gatz lay on the edge of the island, his huge nostrils snorting like a blower.

"There weren't any big ones. I fished for ages and didn't even catch a decent sea king. They were all small fish that weren't even good enough to fill a tooth gap."

Dorrum was the happiest man; he felt that his heart disease and high blood pressure had been cured here like never before.

He even had the leisure to take out his fishing rod and sit leisurely on the edge of the island, enjoying the long-lost pleasure of fishing.

"This is what life is all about..."

He sighed contentedly, completely forgetting that the land beneath his feet might roll over at any moment just because he wanted to change his sleeping position.

The atmosphere on the ship instantly switched from the tense, war-prepared mode of the New World to a leisurely vacation mode.

Chapter 238 Ohara

However, this leisurely period did not last long.

That afternoon, as the ancestral giant tortoise slowly entered a completely new sea area, Silver, perched on a lookout tree, suddenly spoke, his voice colder than the sea breeze of the West Sea.

"Captain, fleet spotted at 12 o'clock."

"Oh? The Navy's flies caught up so quickly?"

Newgate put down the mead in his hand, a hint of impatience flashing in his eyes.

"Not the Navy."

Silver's tone carried a rare hint of oddness.

"The flag is... a skull with a giant donut on it."

A donut-shaped skull?

The group looked at each other in bewilderment; they had never heard of this uniquely styled pirate flag before.

Soon, the fleet came into everyone's view.

They were three ornate ships painted entirely pink, their hulls decorated with various buttercream frostings and candies. They didn't look like pirate ships; they looked more like mobile cake shops that had stepped out of a fairy tale.

On the flagship's deck, an unusually obese man, dressed in a tight-fitting captain's uniform, with two long knives made of giant baguettes at his waist, was looking greedily at the progenitor tortoise through binoculars.

"Men! Look! What's that? A moving island!"

The obese captain's voice was sharp and excited: "That island must be covered in the world's most delicious desserts! Charge! Take that island!"

"Oh!"

A group of equally ugly and overnourished pirates roared and charged forward aggressively in their three cake ships, which looked like small sampans in front of the progenitor giant turtle.

The deck of the Moby Dick was deathly silent.

Gatz looked at the group of fools who had delivered themselves to his doorstep, then at his own empty stomach, which was empty because he hadn't eaten the big fish, and a strange expression appeared on his face.

"Head chef... what do these guys... smell like?"

Without turning his head, Ryan said, "It smells like a mixture of cheap saccharin and artificial cream, it's disgusting."

"That's such a pity."

Gatz sighed regretfully, then hoisted his anchor.

The battle ended faster than anyone expected.

Newgate didn't even need to intervene.

Faced with the three cake ships charging menacingly, Gatz simply let out a huge, weak burp, sounding somewhat listless from hunger.

"belch!"

A terrifying shockwave swept out instantly, and the three cake ships, which didn't look very sturdy, spun wildly 720 degrees on the sea like leaves blown by a hurricane.

The donut decoration on the mainmast snapped off with a crack and plunged into the sea, leaving the obese captain and his crew thrashing about, screaming in disbelief.

"My...my flagship Tiramisu!"

The whole world is quiet now.

Having dealt with those clueless dessert lovers, the ancestral tortoise's voyage returned to calm once more.

People have become accustomed to this kind of overwhelming victory, and even find it somewhat boring.

Gatz was still regretting that he hadn't been able to dismember those guys himself. He felt that hitting someone with a burp was not fun at all, lacking the heavy feeling of metal clashing.

And so, in the midst of a rather mundane daily routine, they sailed for several more days.

They finally arrived at the legendary island of Ohara.

When the unimaginably huge, towering tree that seemed to pierce through the heavens and earth came into view, even the well-informed Newgate was shocked.

"The Tree of Omniscience..."

He slowly uttered the name.

Meanwhile, Renn's gaze was already drawn to the orchid garden beneath the trees, which shimmered like a dream under the sunlight, appearing as if it were glistening with tears.

Ohara, the island of scholars famous for its Tree of Omniscience, stands in stark contrast to the tranquility of other parts of the Western Sea, exuding a unique and profound atmosphere steeped in knowledge and history.

When the primordial giant tortoise appeared in the port of Ohara, its form resembling a moving continent, the entire island fell into a deathly silence.

The island's inhabitants stared in terror at the enormous creature they had never seen before, and at the imposing Whitebeard pirate flag fluttering in the wind atop it. They all huddled in their houses, trembling with fear.

However, the anticipated burning, killing, and looting did not occur.

Only one young man, who looked to be only seventeen or eighteen years old and was dressed in a clean chef's uniform, stepped down from the back of the giant beast.

Ignoring the horrified stares around him, Raine simply carried his food box and headed straight for the orchid garden located beneath the Tree of Omniscience.

His steps were calm, his gaze focused, as if everything around him was irrelevant; his world consisted only of orchids swaying gently in the breeze, like weeping stars.

"Tears of Truth..."

Renn crouched down, reached out, and gently touched the translucent petals of an orchid, which seemed to be formed from dew.

A peculiar energy, filled with sorrow and a sense of reality, flowed from his fingertips.

He could clearly smell that this small orchid contained all the memories of this land over the past hundreds of years.

There is the joy of scholars' painstaking research, the shock of discovering historical truths, and also... a faint, suppressed worry and fear about the future.

"Interesting ingredients."

A smile crept onto Ryan's lips as he prepared to begin collecting the materials, when an aged yet wary voice sounded behind him.

"Young man, please stop."

Renn turned around and saw a tall old man with a peculiar clover-shaped hairstyle and reading glasses standing not far away, followed by several middle-aged men dressed like scholars.

Although they appeared physically weak, their cloudy old eyes shone with wisdom and an indomitable spirit.

"You are... Dr. Clover?"

Ryan spoke calmly, recognizing the key figure in the future Ohara incident.

A hint of surprise flashed in Dr. Clover's eyes: "You know me?"

"I have long admired your name."

Raine stood up and dusted off his hands.

"I am just a chef who came here to collect a special spice. I have no intention of disturbing your research."

"chef?"

Dr. Clover's gaze swept over the terrifying behemoth in the distance, flying the Whitebeard Pirates' flag, his vigilance undiminished.

"A pirate's chef is probably not just someone who cooks for more than just food, is he?"

Just as the two sides were locked in a standoff and the atmosphere became somewhat tense, a clear and melodious voice, yet tinged with timidity, came from behind Dr. Clover.

"Doctor, they...they don't seem like bad people."

A little girl who looked only three or four years old, with long black hair and holding several thick books in her arms, peeked out. Her big, black gem-like eyes were full of curiosity about the outside world.

Nicole Robin.

Chapter 239 Spandam

Raine looked at this future son of the devil and sighed softly in his heart.

He did not argue with Dr. Clover any further; he knew that words were futile when dealing with such stubborn scholars.

Raine simply took out a portable tea set and some tea leaves that he had roasted himself, which had a calming aroma, from the food box.

In front of everyone, he slowly and deliberately began to make tea.

The movements were fluid and graceful, full of a mysterious rhythm, as if they were not making tea, but performing a sacred ritual.

Soon, a refreshing and wise aroma of tea filled the air.

The aroma seemed to possess a magical power, penetrating everyone's nostrils and instantly easing their tense nerves.

Raine pushed a cup of freshly brewed tea toward Dr. Clover.

"Please use it."

Dr. Clover hesitated for a moment, but ultimately could not resist the temptation of the strange tea aroma. He picked up the teacup and took a small sip.

The next second, his cloudy old eyes trembled violently.

In that instant, he seemed to see the historical truth he had been searching for all his life, the blank history of a hundred years that had been deliberately erased by the World Government, and... the future fate of Ohara.

It was a sea of ​​burning fire.

"This...this is..."

Dr. Clover's hand holding the teacup trembled uncontrollably.

"I'm just a chef."

Ryan's answer remained the same: "I'm only responsible for presenting the most authentic flavor of the ingredients. As for what you taste, that's your own business."

These words left Dr. Clover completely silent.

Looking at the young man before him, whose calm demeanor seemed otherworldly, a storm raged within him.

This man wasn't threatening them with force; he was communicating with their souls in a higher dimension, in a way they couldn't comprehend.

Just then, a series of hurried footsteps approached, and a young scholar rushed over in a panic.