Just as Sauron Nami happened to bump into Colonel Hound Dog.

On the other side, more than ten kilometers away, a small boat was also heading towards the base of the 16th Navy Branch on Chai Civet Island.

There were a total of three people on board.

A young man with blond hair and curly eyebrows was standing at the bow of the boat and lighting a cigarette;

The straw hat boy in the back choked and sneezed loudly, and the whole ship shook suddenly;

The pink-haired boy who was paddling was startled, and it took a lot of effort to rebalance the boat.

It's Luffy, Sanji, and Kirby.

At this time, more than ten days have passed since the three of them first met.

After defeating the Black Star Pirates that day, Luffy launched a "partner offensive" against Sanji, although because Sanji went to sea early and was much stronger than in the original timeline, Luffy's first duel ended in a fiasco.

But the last thing this guy lacks is toughness, and the partner who sees the right eye naturally can't let go so easily, so after saying goodbye to the Drummond family's passenger ship, he forcibly mixed into Sanji's boat, and persistently challenged him day after day.

Sanji was annoyed at first, but he was relatively soft-hearted, and he was not good at killing this rough-witted kid, so he turned a blind eye and let him stay in his boat.

And as time goes by, his perception of Luffy is slowly getting better.

This is not entirely because he was impressed by Luffy's indomitable spirit, but more because he found that every time he cooked food, even if it was just the simplest basic dish, Luffy would be addicted to eating it.

When he is not full, this guy will try his best to catch fish and shrimp from the sea, and then deliver the ingredients to him, like a pug wagging its tail, staring at himself expectantly, waiting for his cooking demonstration.

This is quite enjoyable for a person who is still a chef at heart, not to mention Luffy's habit of liking to lick even the plates clean, and not wanting to waste any food, which can be said to be quite his appetite.

So, after the relationship between the two gradually became harmonious, Sanji also put forward his own request to Luffy - it is okay to want him to get on the ship, but two conditions must be met, one is that the strength must be stronger than himself, and he will never agree that Luffy is the captain until he can defeat himself with an absolute advantage.

As for the second, while he helps Luffy fulfill his dream of One Piece, the latter also has to help him achieve his dream, that is, to find the sea of his dreams, the legendary place where the four seas meet - ALL BLUE.

For these two requests, Luffy almost didn't think about it, and readily agreed.

His head is tendoned, and he thinks very simply, anyway, he will deceive people into the ship first, as for not being able to beat Sanji now, it won't be a problem at all, people will grow, and one day in the future, he will beat Sanji convincingly, and let him call himself a captain.

As for the third man on board, Kirby......

This guy who was rescued from the pirate ship by mistake is naturally not a partner of the two, and the reason why he is on the ship is only because Sanji sees him pitiful.

It just so happened that this little ghost declared that his dream was to become a navy, and Sanji happened to plan to find a naval branch base and exchange the bounty of Black Star Shaunat, so he simply took him on the way.

"It's Chai Tanuki Island in front of you."

Looking at the island in the distance, which had already shown its outline, Sanji slowly exhaled a smoke ring, looked back at Kirby and said, "Hey, boy, when you get to the naval base, you can sign up for the navy yourself, and then the two of us won't send it." ”

"Well, okay...... Good. ”

Kirby responded a little nervously, and after thinking about it, he suddenly put down the wooden paddle in his hand, bowed deeply to the two, and said solemnly:

"Thank you, Mr. Sanji, Mr. Luffy! Your life-saving grace, Kebi will always remember it, and when we meet again in the future, I will try my best to repay it! ”

"I'm just doing it." Sanji waved his hand and chuckled nonchalantly, "Don't take it to heart, I'll be a pirate in the future, as long as you don't come to chase me, it's enough." ”

"I can't do that kind of thing!"

Kirby hurriedly shook his head, he was about to say something, when a gust of wind suddenly blew, and the straw hat on Luffy's head suddenly flew out from in front of his eyes.

"Oh, my hat!"

Luffy was in a hurry, and was about to stretch out his arm to drag, but Kirby behind him had already jumped in time and grabbed the straw hat in his hand at the last second.

"Haha, thank you, Kirby." Luffy took the straw hat and carefully put it back on before he breathed a sigh of relief and grinned, "This straw hat is very important to me, if I lose it, I won't have the face to see Shanks again." ”

"Shanks?"

Kirby looked dazed, but Sanji's face changed slightly, and he said a little incredulously: "Are you talking about the red-haired Shanks, one of the Four Emperors?" ”

Because he often pays attention to his brother Xia Nuo's movements in the newspaper, Sanji is now much more knowledgeable than in the original timeline, so that he doesn't even know what the Four Emperors of the Seven Martial Seas are.

"Four Emperors? Sounds like a great thing, has Shanks become such a strong character? ”

Luffy scratched his head, but soon smiled absently, "Well, anyway, this straw hat was put on top of my head after Shanks rescued me, and I made an agreement with him that when I go to sea in the future, when I meet again, I will return this very precious hat to him with my own hands!" ”

Speaking of that name, Luffy couldn't help but recall the bits and pieces of his year in Windmill Village, and his face suddenly filled with a bright smile.

"When we meet again, give him back the hat......"

Looking at Luffy's smile, Sanji was slightly stunned, and his brows furrowed deeply - no, how does this sound so familiar......

[Under the sunset, a handsome young man with black hair and black eyes, and a boy in a chef's uniform with blonde hair and curly eyebrows, smiled and waved goodbye. 】

["I said, you swore to the sea to become the greatest chef in the world, and it was your dream to find the blue ocean of your dreams, right? “】

["Then, take this hat as a symbol of bonding and strive for your dreams! I hope that when I see you again, you have achieved your dream, and when the time comes, return the hat to me! 】

……

It's really memorable.

Recalling that scene in the sunset that year, Sanji was silent for a long time, and finally woke up to Luffy's shout of "Hey, hey, what are you thinking".

"It seems that Shanks is a very important person to Luffy."

He looked at the straw hat on Luffy's head in front of him, suddenly snuffed out the cigarette, took out a yellowed and old green hat from his arms, and put it on top of his head seriously.

"It's ......"

Looking up at the hat that was suddenly taken out, Luffy was stunned.

"Pretty coincidental, right? It seems that we do have a bit of fate, and the possibility of officially becoming partners seems to be greater. ”

The corners of Sanji's mouth were slightly hooked, and a warm smile appeared on his face:

"Because I also have a hat, and I need to return it to the person who is the most important to me in person!"