Chapter 2 (Shokugeki no Sanji)

Shokugeki no Sanji: Sanji, Banquet Assistant is the second of a set of spinoff one-shots created by Food Wars: Shokugeki no Soma creators Yūto Tsukuda and Shun Saeki. It was published in January 2021 to celebrate the release of Chapter 1000.

Plot Synopsis
The Straw Hat Pirates are out at sea on the Going Merry, and as Sanji prepares and serves Nami a drink, the crew sees a castaway drifting nearby. They bring the castaway, Ruibe, onboard and see that he has suffered some bad shoulder and chest wounds. Ruibe says they should have left him adrift, and Sanji gets mad at him for speaking to Nami that way, but a photograph then falls out of the man's pocket. From the photograph and Ruibe's account, the Straw Hats learn that he was trying to acquire legendary fish to serve at his daughter's wedding, but got caught in a squall on his way home and hurt himself trying to sail through it. After finding out the wedding is happening the very next day, the Straw Hats offer to take Ruibe home in exchange for some of the fish he got. Ruibe accepts, but to their surprise he says they can have all of the fish if they want.

The Straw Hats examine the barrel of fish inside by the kitchen, and are stunned to see that the fish are Draconic Super-Filleted Salmon, a source of highly delectable food that can bring good fortune. However, Ruibe reveals that it is extremely difficult to dress and fillet them, and that no one on his island can do it, including himself as he found out recently. He goes further to state that no East Blue cook could possibly prepare these fish, and Sanji takes this as an insult, using it and the happiness of Ruibe's daughter as motivation to try his hand at filleting the salmon. Ruibe is not convinced, and Sanji removes his jacket and quickly gets to work cutting one of the salmon. Ruibe is left in shock at Sanji's sublime cutting skills, but when Sanji makes a cut through the fish's body, it loudly ruptures and covers Sanji's body in juices and scraps. Ruibe laughs at Sanji's misfortune, revealing that the dragon salmon's stomach is so sensitive that any knife cutting into it has to make a singular and straight cut. If the direction of the cut wavers even by a millimeter, the salmon's defense mechanism causes its stomach to explode, reducing all of its meat to useless scraps. In response, Sanji pulls out a much longer yanagiba knife and cuts through the next fish, but the cut is once again imperfect and the fish explodes again.

Sanji tries again numerous times, but all of them have the same result. Ruibe and the rest of the crew have moved outside, and eventually Ruibe has had enough and decides to leave to avoid inconveniencing the crew further. Nami still wants to help his daughter, and he tells the crew about how he really wanted to bring the fish for his daughter's wedding, as he had not been in her life much due to his work and feared for her life all these years due to how frail and sickly she was. However, he took his injury as a sign from above that it was not worth it to make the fish. Zoro stops Ruibe from going to tell Sanji to stop, and when Ruibe says he did not understand things of this nature, Zoro retorts that cooks and swordsmen both make their livings using blades and once they are determined to cut something, they will never back down. In the kitchen, Sanji is at a loss of what to do, realizing that he needs a long, sharp, and sturdy blade to pull off this cut and he has no knives that fit all three of those qualities. Zoro then enters the room and mocks Sanji for his struggles, but then sets Wado Ichimonji down on the table, saying that a goofy playboy would never be able to wield it. Zoro then leaves, and when he is gone, Sanji acts as though he has suddenly found Wado Ichimonji which has the traits necessary to cut the salmon. Sanji proceeds to unsheathe the sword and deliver a precise cut through the dragon salmon, successfully filleting it.

The next day, Ruibe has returned to his island, having brought a plate of cooked dragon salmon to his daughter's wedding. The other guests marvel in awe at it and ask how he managed to fillet it, and Ruibe is quick to tell them that he met an amazing cook that did it. Earlier, he had asked the Straw Hats to join him at his daughter's wedding or at least come ashore and meet his family, but they declined, saying pirates did not belong at a wedding banquet. Sanji simply asks him to tell his daughter that a gentleman gave him some help in preparing the fish. Ruibe tells his daughter this, saying he did nothing to bring the dragon salmon here. However, his daughter points out that he was the one who made the effort to acquire the fish and bring it here, and she tells her father she is really happy, bringing tears to his eyes. Ruibe had left some of the salmon onboard the Sunny, and Sanji serves it to his crewmates. Both the Straw Hats and the wedding guests are dazzled by the dish's flavor, and Ruibe compares the sensation to being in a mermaid's paradise. Even Zoro enjoys eating it. The next morning, Sanji wakes up still feeling proud at what he accomplished, and as he walks out he runs into Zoro cleaning Wado Ichimonji. Zoro tells him to get him some salt because a perverted cook left dirty thoughts on his sword, causing the two of them to start arguing.

Characters

 * Sanji
 * Nami
 * Roronoa Zoro
 * Ruibe
 * Usopp
 * Monkey D. Luffy
 * News Coo

Trivia

 * The chapter takes place immediately before the Loguetown Arc, between chapters 95 and 96, evidenced by Nami's clothing.
 * This is the first time Zoro lends one of his swords to someone else.
 * In the "mermaid's paradise" fantasy image, Nami wears clothing similar to Shirahoshi.