39 Chapter 39 - Food Fight

'This mission is similar to the first one, but it looks like the focus shifted to preventing collateral damage…'

Suddenly, a head peeked over Jin's shoulder. Jin leaned away before noticing it was Luffy staring his eyes at his phone and humming curiously.

"I can't see anything on your thingy, either. Lame." With a bored expression, he walked away from Jin and called out, "Sanji! Can you make some food? I'm hungry!"

"You just ate, dammit."

Jin grinned at the back and forth. Inwardly, he couldn't help wanting to try Sanji's cooking at least once.

Next to Jin, Zoro quietly said, "This mission looks troublesome."

"Well, it is what it is. The rewards aren't bad, and I doubt you mind saving people who aren't strong enough to save themselves, right?"

Zoro looked away, scratched his head, and sighed. Then, he walked away while grumbling "I'm going to sleep. Wake me up when we get there."

Feeling like he was being watched, Jin turned his head. There, a few steps away and halted on the path toward the inner parts of the ship, he saw the slim navigator who was a bit shorter than himself. Her brown eyes drilled into him with a questioning gaze.

"Need something?"

"What was that about a mission?" Nami asked with mild curiosity.

"Nothing important. Those devices you saw can just give us rewards if we complete certain tasks."

"Like berries?!" Nami excitedly asked, dashing up to him without missing a beat.

Startled by the girl's speed, Jin's eyebrows rose. It wasn't even a cartoonish movement, but a few simple steps. Whilst reevaluating the basic physical fitness of the people within this world, Jin answered Nami by shaking his head and saying, "Not money."

"Tch. Then does it give you treasures?"

"Hmm…" Jin pressed his lips together and gradually recalled some of the strange rewards some of the group members had received. "Not treasures, per say."

"Then what's the point?"

Not really wanting to continue on the topic, Jin recalled the weird ability he had yet to use… Spontaneously, he retrieved a few Yen coins from his pocket, tossed them at Nami, and said, "Shut up and take my money."

Nami's eyes flashed. Her hands shot out like bullets and grabbed every single coin. After looking at them and not recognizing them, she tried to complain, but her voice didn't work.

Chuckling at the stupefied look on the girl's face, Jin turned around, ambled toward the inner part of the ship, and said, "I'm going to go talk to those energetic guys for a bit since I've got nothing else to do."

Nami frowned and tried to speak again, but nothing happened. Although puzzled, she snorted and followed him with an angry expression. Every few seconds, she tried speaking. Shortly after entering Merry's cabin, she could finally speak again.

"Ah- ah- Oh, I can talk again. What did you just do to me?!"

Nami's voice distracted Sanji who had started cooking something nearby.

"Oh! N~yami-san! Did you come to taste my cooking, too?"

Instinctively, she reacted by kicking the poor guy in the stomach. Watching him tumble backward, she chided, "Shut up, pervert. Don't interrupt me when I'm having an important discussion."

Jin ignored the glare from the blondie and stepped over to help him up. The guy didn't accept the help, so Jin lifted him to his feet using the back of his suit as a handhold, mostly because he wanted to try the guy's food sooner. Nami raised a brow at the action, but Luffy and Usopp sitting at the table further away looked at Jin with varying levels of curiosity.

"I didn't need help from a man. But if it was Nami-san…"

Blood leaked from his nose.

Ignoring Sanji's blatant delusions since the guy somehow avoided getting any blood in the food even with his head in the clouds, Jin turned around and headed for the table.

"So? What was that you did to me a minute ago? Magic?" Nami asked in an attempt to resume the previously interrupted conversation.

"It's one of those rewards I mentioned. Pretty lame, right?"

"If you have to waste money, then yes. But… What are these coins? I don't recognize them."

"Can I have them back?" Jin retorted.

Immediately pulling the coins into her bountiful chest, she responded with a firm, "No."

"Then keep them. They aren't worth much where I'm from."

'It was less than one hundred yen, but it shut her up for a good ten seconds at least. Maybe it's kinda usable despite being a gag ability.'

While thinking about it, Jin sat down at the nearby table. Nami sat down next to him and started inspecting the coins with a magnifying glass she pulled out from somewhere.

"Hmmmm… I could probably sell these for a few dozen berries… no, I just need to convince the buyer that they are rare items from a rich person's collection… easily thousands of berries…"

Scooting a few inches away from the frightening ramblings that vaguely reminded him of some fictional serial killers, Jin kept a stoic expression and pretended not to hear it. Meanwhile, Luffy spoke excitedly to him.

"Zoro said your name is Fin, right?"

"Jin."

"Oh, right, Gin."

"Jin."

"Din?"

"Nevermind. Forget it."

Jin ignored the cute but stifled cackling next to him.

"You know Zoro, right?" Usopp asked. "So, are you a swordsman, too?"

"Yeah, but I'm also a magician."

Both Usopp and Nami recoiled with disgusted expressions, causing Jin to raise a brow. Only after pondering for a moment did he recall a certain hypnotist who caused some problems for them before.

"A- any ma- magician would have to cower before the mighty General Usopp!"

"Oh yeah? Why's that?" Jin humored him with an amused grin.

"I want to hear it, too!" Luffy excitedly said.

"My great army defeated a mighty and powerful magician just a few weeks ago! It was a great battle, but in the end, I was victorious!"

"Hoh~ How cool."

"Oh, that weird guy?" Luffy wondered aloud with a puzzled look.

"Don't humor him. It'll never end," Nami quietly grumbled.

Just like she said, the guy boasted about his mighty feats in battle until Sanji slammed a plate of fish stir fry in front of him.

"Shut up and eat. Oh, here you go, N~yami-san~!"

Jin raised a brow upon seeing a massive bowl of food in front of Luffy. Then, he looked at the plate Sanji gave to him and Usopp. They looked about the same. Finally, he looked at Nami's plate. While the other plates looked good as well, like that of a moderately fancy restaurant, Jin couldn't help staring at Nami's for a few seconds. A delectable scent of fresh fish grilled to perfection with unfamiliar herbs tickled Jin's nose and made his mouth water uncontrollably. He had seen 5-star Michelin restaurant meals because of his mother's business before, but Nami's dish made them look like a microwaved meal from a side-street's food stall.

"Hmph. This is this pervert's only good point," Nami whispered to him.

"Thank you N~ami-chan!"

Engrossed in the enamoring scent of food, Jin barely remembered to thank Sanji for the food before tasting a spoonful. The moment it touched his tongue, he almost ascended into salmon heaven.

'The hell is this Food Wars level food? Good shit!'

Suddenly, Jin saw a hand shooting toward his plate. Without hesitation, he cast a freeform barrier around himself and his food. The hand recoiled.

"Ow!" Luffy yelped, pulling his hand back. He shook his hand and glared at the barrier. No, he glared at the plate of food behind the barrier.

"Dang. I expected it, but you finished that giant bowl way too fast," Jin grumbled.

"What is that?! Do that for me too!" Nami exclaimed while jumping around with plate to avoid Luffy's other grubby hand firing consecutive Gomu Gomu no Food-Stealing-Pistols.

"Me too!" Usopp pleaded.

Jin cast a barrier around Nami since she still had food on her plate, and Sanji also kicked Luffy's hands away. Usopp however…

"Usopp, your food's already gone, my friend," Jin mentioned with a wry smile before digging into his food with gusto.

"No! Luffy!"

"Gimme!" Luffy exclaimed, diving toward Jin's barrier. "Gomu Gomu no Gatling Gun!"

Three seconds of Luffy's blurry fists shattered the flimsy barrier Jin had erected. Sad that his barrier fell so quickly, even as weak as it was due to the hasty spell cast, he stood up with a somber expression. He set down his food, cast another barrier around it, and narrowed his eyes. Eye twitching slightly, he cracked his knuckles.

'I don't usually get so passionate, but this food is worth it.'

"Alrighty, Luffy, you asked for it."

"Haha! Here I come, Pin!"

"It's Jin, buddy."

Before the fight could start, Sanji slammed another giant bowl onto the table, instantly attracting Luffy's attention. For some reason, Jin felt almost cockblocked that he didn't get to fight just now.

'Wait, what am I doing?'

Instead of worrying about others, he refocused on his food and gobbled it down. He wondered if he would be able to adjust to food back home after this.