บท 28: Chapter 27
Walking from the shore, the town eventually came in sight of Rowan.
Bakery town was quite similar to Logue town in terms of building designs and size. However, if there was one difference, Bakery town was full of restaurants and street vendors. The mouthwatering smell of food floated everywhere, which made Rowan drool.
"Hello, hello! Welcome to Bakery town, the town of gourmets!" One of the street vendor owner called out to Rowan and Carina as they looked around in curiosity.
"We only use the ingredients that are the best of the best~ Come try some!"
"Come try this delectable fried noodle, you won't regret it!" Soon, tens and hundreds of street vendor owners began to cry out to them, causing Rowan to get a headache.
"What's going on?" Dumbfounded by the sudden chaos, Rowan asked. Carina sighed in response, crossing her arms in discomfort.
"The town of gourmets. Ironically enough, over 95% of the residents in this town are cooks. Pretty weird, since most of them are competing against one another, just for the 5% that are the customers." Carina explained. "And among those 5%, some emerged as gourmets, after tasting so many delicious foods for years."
Rowan didn't know what to say. "Then how do those so called 5% make money here?"
"They do part-time jobs in the restaurants."
"Why would the restaurants hire them when they barely earn any?!" Rowan found himself wondering what exactly the world of One Piece was. There existed so much of weird aspects, that Rowan never imagined.
"That's why the restaurants are going broke one by one, and become street vendors." Carina pointed at one street vendor owner, who was waving his hands at them. "That person, I remember. Last time I visited, he had a big restaurant that sells pork cutlet. It was really good too. And look where he is now."
"Their culinary skills are at the level of top expert. Judging by their state right now, I have a hunch that most of them would immediately accept the offer to join our crew. However, they have no combat ability. Must think thoroughly." Rowan decided to look around more.
They visited the store that sells generic goods, in order to restock the foods. The last time they stocked up, they bought the cheapest and the tasteless ration bar, and the experience has been quite depressing.
"The price is pretty cheap too. Probably since this is the only store where all those vendors and restaurants get their ingredients from; the shop owner here must be filthy rich." Carina said while looking around the shop in envy.
"Finally, we are going to have something other than those cursed bars." Rowan, out of excitement, grabbed an eggplant next to him. "Eggplant, I choose you!"
Soon, they finished shopping, which amounted up to 5 thousand Beli. While carrying large bags over his shoulder, Rowan noticed a crowd gathering up in the center ground.
Out of curiosity, Rowan and Carina walked towards the crowd, and found out that a cooking competition was going on!
"On the left, we have our finest chef in Bakery town, the Sushi Master Mooshu! On the right, we have the challenger, the Fiery Carmen!" The host, wearing a tuxedo, excitedly said with a mic on his hand.
On the left, a bald man, only wearing a loincloth, was proudly standing in front of the table and ingredients provided for him. Similarly, there was a red, spiky-haired woman standing on the right side.
"The contestants will have one hour to cook! Afterwards, our proud gourmets here," The host pointed at the three judges behind, sitting on a table with serious demeanours, "will decide the winners!"
The audience cheered at the host's explanation.
"Without further ado, let the competition commence!" As the host made a chopping motion with his free hand, signaling the start of the competition, two chefs immediately started to get onto work.
"Sushi… slash!!" Mooshu shouted as he threw fresh fish up in the air, before weaving his cooking knife at a blinding speed. Surprisingly, the fish was perfectly peeled and cut!
"Ahahahahaha!!" Carmen laughed while slicing various vegetables in an exaggerated fashion as if she was dancing.
After an hour, the dishes from each contestant were all cooked and ready to be served. Mooshu was the first to finish the dish, and therefore, he approached the judges and served them.
"I present you, the heaven-defying king golden emperor amazing tuna roll!" Mooshu claimed as he revealed a slice of exquisite tuna meat, which seemed to be glowing in a golden color, covering the golden rice ball that seemed to be glowing as well. "I've spent over 30 minutes, in order to soften this top-grade tuna meat to an extreme degree! Subsequently, I have seasoned it with the infamous golden salt, before mildly grilling the meat at a perfect temperature for 7.98 seconds! The rice itself isn't simple either; each grain has a tint of my special vinegar salt within! Try once, and no other dish will ever induce your hunger, ever again!"
Hearing the proud explanation of Mooshu, the judges gulped while staring at the golden tuna roll. Not being able to hold any longer, all the judges placed the whole roll inside their mouths, without biting off.
"This- this is!!" One judge shouted as he chewed on the food. "The exploding flavor in my mouth, the perfect balance between saltiness, sweetness, and sourness, as well as the perfectly softened tuna meat, so soft that it melts in my mouth immediately!"
"It's swimming in my mouth! I can feel the tuna, trying to escape from my mouth! Ha, as if I will let you!" The other judge chewed harder on the food. "Damn it! No matter how hard I try, it keeps on escaping my teeth, as if it's a liquid! An incredible softness!"
"Oh, how juicy! Mammamia, I see the tuna waving its fin at me! It's alive, it's alive!"
The judges were immediately immersed in the delicious sushi produced by Mooshu, who was proudly standing in front of the judges with a smile. He turned back at Carmen, who came up with her own dish ready.
Seeing the reactions from the judges, Rowan and Carina couldn't help but gulp as well.
"Wow, that sushi master is amazing." Rowan intently looked at the said person. "Potential recruit? Imagine, sushi every day!"
Carina didn't seem to hear Rowan. "That golden salt... it's a natural variant that was born when the gold with very high purity sank in the ocean! I recall that it's very expensive... how does that man have it?!!"
Meanwhile, Carmen placed her own dish on the table to the judges, who were still engrossed by the tuna roll.
"Heh, tuna roll? Trust me, you won't even remember the letter 't' from tuna roll after you taste my dish!" Carmen took off the lid from the plate. Immediately after, the steam arose within the plate, before spreading the sweet and mouthwatering aroma all around!
We the judges were bombarded with such aroma from the close proximity, they jolted up from their spot, immediately waking up from the trance.
"What is this smell? I must try, I must try right now!!" After the steam cleared, what lay inside were the sizzling meat slices, which were thick and round in terms of shape.
"This... this is no normal dish! Tell me, what secrets are you hiding!!" The judges got giddy as Carmen served the food to them.
"Ahahaha! I name this dish: Flamboyant Garlic Roast! I've perfectly sliced the ham melon into smooth pieces without any roughness through the use of the highly heated knife, and removed the smell of the meat through the use of citric acid from the mikan fruit. Subsequently, I've seasoned the slices with my special garlic sauce, before roasting the meat by compressing it with the heated stones from both sides, for 15.3847 seconds!"
Not being able to wait anymore, the judges carefully sliced the piece of roasted ham, before placing it inside their mouth. Immediately after they chewed once, they froze, not even blinking.
"H-hey, isn't that a bit too much of an exaggeration?" Rowan couldn't help but speak out. How can food invoke such a response from a person? At best, one will simply say, "it's so good!!"
"T-this... inexplicable." Having woken up from their trance, the judges sat down back on their spot and wiped their sweat. Without any hesitation, they immediately raised the flags that declare Carmen as the winner!
"Hey Rowan..." Suddenly, Carina spoke next to him. "I want that sushi master in our crew! He must be rich!" She shouted as her eyes turned into Beli signs.
"Hmm, nah. That Carmen seems to be much more formidable. Let's recruit her!" Rowan said as he gulped at the roast the judges were busy consuming.
"The victory goes to: the Fiery Carmen!!" The host announced, and the audiences cheered in delight. After the competition was over, the crowds began to disperse, leaving Rowan, Carina, Carmen and dejected Mooshu on the spot.
"Alright, then let's have a competition of our own," Carina said as she grinned. "You try to persuade that woman, and I will do the same with the golden salt!!"
"Heh, you're on." Rowan rubbed his nose as they both began to approach the cooks.
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